Ardour for Her
by Psychedelic0Kitty
Summary: Karma acts weirdly when his girlfriend is mentioned...his eyes go foggy, his voice becomes low, and he can't seem to focus on anything at all. It's frightening. So when his best friend Gakushuu finally gets to meet this girl, what started out as little curiosity soon grows into something just as scary. Yandere! Karma x Fem!Nagisa x eventual yandere! Gakushuu
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: This story will develop into having Yandere characters and will also display sexual scenes, swearing and situations that might trigger or offend some people so if you don't like this, don't read it.**

 **Also, the characters are a bit older in this.**

* * *

Chapter One

"Of course I'll get one, we are in high school now." Terasaka had a gloating gleam in his eyes, but Gakushuu could only cringe at this, struggling to relate.

"Is that all you think about when you hear the word school? Shouldn't you at least try to improve your education? Or even your physical fitness would do?"

Karma snorted, "I hardly expect _you_ to get this, but social status is equally important, and it's saying that sort of shit that will get you labelled as a sad nerd," he teased, meeting his friend's gaze, "What would you do without me?"

"Maybe some monkeys think that way but I wouldn't care about what they think of me, besides, what would getting a girlfriend have to do with making you look cooler? Shouldn't you try and avoid being all sappy and romantic?"

At this, they generally laughed at the boy, like he was an inferior species in this foreign world to him where he was starting anew, no longer in possession of his fame full reputation. No longer with any factor establishing him as better than any other new student.

Gakushuu hated this fact, wishing he had spent more time socialising as a child outside of clubs and lessons so his redheaded best friend didn't have the opportunity to look down on him so condescendingly.

One of the boys they had picked up as a friend in their new class spoke up, "The aim of the game is to get a girl and treat her like shit. Don't get me wrong - be as nice to her as you want when nobody's around - but if it's popularity you're after, it's the gritty rumours that're gonna get people talking."

That didn't sound right either. Secretly within his thoughts, that idea went against everything he had been raised to do and believe, he didn't share his thoughts but honestly, that repulsed him. He could easily imagine his mother looking at him in disappointment as well as the verbal whipping he would get alongside it if he had said those words and not his new friend.

He clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes and looking around the classroom.

"Personally, I treat my girl like a princess~"

Gakushuu searched to meet Karma's gaze, but the boy was looking off somewhere away from him almost dreamily. He'd heard more than enough rumours of the boy's girlfriend that he practically knew everything about her, honestly, despite what you might think, Karma, the violent, disobedient troublemaker really was telling the honest truth.

He really did love this girl to the point that in the past, Karma had left his best friend at a meeting, get together or party on the spot after just a single text from the girl.

But, he wouldn't be jealous. It was strange for sure, that someone so competitive, rough and sadistic had such a soft side, though deep down, it inspired a hidden respect for the boy.

"Your girl?"

"Didn't I tell you about her? She's the prettiest thing in the class."

"She can't be that much of a looker then, none in here are strikers." They laughed at a girl with thick glasses and greasy hair in plaits who's snotty nose was burried in a book.

"Hm. That looks like you Okajima, you didn't tell me you had a sister." Gakushuu commented.

"Suck a toe Asano!" He bellowed, not aware his words rhymed until it was too late and he was being laughed at. "Oh shut it! Are you just going to sit there or are you going to prove to us you're telling the truth Akabane?"

"Yeah... that blonde and her friend are alright"

"Oh, I know that one, here name is Kanzaki I think?"

"No. My Nagisa is much cuter." Karma drawled, attention barely on them despite him being their main focus.

"Cute? Then her with the green hair?"

"When I said best in the class I meant it. Besides, she's a good girl, she doesn't wear lip gloss and skirts halfway up her ass or throw her hair over her shoulder like she wants attention."

Terasaka made a sound of disagreement. "You know, I'm starting to doubt this girl even exists. Most girls who are pretty know it."

"Know it and abuse it." Another added.

"Yeah, you're either making it up, or you're really begging it with this girl, I bet you there's a reason we haven't noticed her. I bet you she's just average."

"Deffinitely not." This time it was Gakushuu who intervened. His eyes darted to see Karma smiling. After being insulted, that was not a good thing. It meant he was plotting, already making enemies and it wasn't even the first hour of the year. It was sometimes scary how angry he would get about his girlfriend.

"I've never met the girl herself, but I've been around when he's stopped on the street because he's recognised a few bastards that tried to harass her into going out with them."

"That's right, that boy who scurried up a tree and got stuck to escape us." Karma snickered.

"By we you mean you." Gakushuu coughed, trying to send the message to the other boys that provoking the red head was an awful idea. "But yes, I do remember, and these boys were the kind that wouldn't go crushing on just any mediocre girl. We even had a few grown men we had to chase didn't we?"

That was a step in the wrong direction by the way his best friend's hand suddenly clenched, and his face darkened into anger that preferred quick punches to thought out plots.

"So she really is a dime huh?"

"I'm positive she is. From my description, I'm looking forward to finally meeting the girl myself."

"That reminds me," Karma stood up, stretching out from his desk as though he had been sitting at it all day. "Before Nagisa gets here," Suddenly his eyes darkened. He pulled an expression that even Gakushuu hadn't seen before, triggering a circle of silence around him.  
 **"If anyone thinks it's even slightly acceptable to** _ **try it**_ **with Nagisa I'll personally see to it that they get at least three bones** _ **broken**_ **."**

The silence that followed was almost unreal.

Everyone in the class had heard him. Their teacher hadn't arrived yet, so a lot of the girls looked terrified, but it was the majority of the boys that showed they understood him, with saucer like eyes, sweaty foreheads or jaws partially hung.

Karma sat down quietly, continuing with his life as if nothing had happened until whispers and mutterings to straight out screams of chaos ensued around him.

 _"There's no way he meant that." "He does look strong though." "I heard he was nearly expelled several times in his last school." "That can't be true." "Who even is Nagisa?"_

Gakushuu knew from the moment Karma's eyes lightened, flicking into another emotion that was strange and focused in the direction of the door, that 'his girl' had arrived.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one, as gazes followed to meet the sight of a small, slim figure. Her skin was flawless, pale and smooth in some areas yet naturally pink in others, complimenting her sky blue eyes and matching hair that held in two twin ponytails either side of her head, swaying as she glanced firstly in the direction of the empty teachers chair before walking right in to the seat that read the label for her name. Irritably, her chest was covered by an over shirt, but at least not a blazer, while her slender legs and irrefutably round hips were protected from preying eyes by baggy, boyish trousers that not a single other girl in the class wore.

One thing was for sure though, whether it was her delicate little face, her pretty blue eyes, the slow, swaying way she walked, or simply the build up from all they had heard about her, Nagisa was without a doubt the hottest girl in the class. To more than half of the boys, she was the hottest they could recall ever seeing.

"Damn.." Terasaka licked his lips,"I'm so fucking glad you made that threat before or I would have done something that got all my bones broken."

Ignoring him, Karma stood up beside his best friend, eyes not once leaving the blunette as he jerked his head in his direction.

"Come on, it's about time you meet _my_ girlfriend."

"She is... very pretty." Gakushuu plodded, cautious of using a word too strong. What else would he say? Even he, having never fussed over a girl before was distracted by her. Although for some reason, he imagined the girl a little bit less... daydreamy. Those blue eyes seemed to not even notice him, to not even look his way as they mystifyingly stared ahead beneath her thick eyelashes.

Thankfully, the response he gave somehow showed Karma that he wasn't all that affected. Meaning that despite his pounding heart on the inside, Gakushuu must have appeared quite composed on the outside - or perhaps Karma was just so caught up he didn't notice.

"Yeah. She may be quiet in class, but she can really scream at other times, you know?" He smirked, eliciting a slight blush from his friend.

Nagisa didn't notice when they came up behind her. Instead of stopping to say hi, Karma draped his arms over her shoulders and tilted her chin up, giving the surprised girl no other choice that to accept his kiss on her on the lips.

"Nagisa~" He purred pleasantly, locking their eyes. Some of the girls dared to stare blatantly, but by now most boys knew better, although they were unable to keep their eyes away and ended up watching from the side anyway.

"You don't have to kiss me as soon as you can. Everyone's looking." She didn't let herself blush, though her eyes flickered uncertainly to Gakushuu who stood awkwardly at the side.

"I'm simply marking my territory."

The blush couldn't be held off forever, failing horribly when Karma licked her bottom lip and made her shiver, pulling out of his embrace to hide her rosy cheeked embarrassment. She put her hand between their two faces, "I think that's enough for the first day."

Gakushuu was about to step in and speak, seeing that the couples 'reunion' was over and deeming now the time to do so. Only to stop and grimace as Nagisa's arm was twisted, her jaw was grabbed, pulled in by fingers that had a firm grip that couldn't be gentle, until they met for a long kiss. Karma's lips crushing into hers and rocking slower closer after pulling back every now and then, his fingers brushing over her skin and her eyes shutting subserviently was more sexual than anything he'd ever seen. He snatched his gaze sharply from them in his mind, though found that in reality, his body had refused to look away.

From far, the violent nature could easily go unnoticed with the speed at which it had happened, but from close, where you could see the look of low self worth in Nagisa's eyes as her wishes were denied, Gakushuu knew he was concerned.

There had to be something he didn't know. Maybe the blunette was the type that didn't express them self well, or often hid their true motives, maybe she even _enjoyed_ being treated roughly? Though, he couldn't see why.

He swallowed. It was like he said before, Karma had a soft spot. He loved this girl and treated her like a princess. He wouldn't hurt her willingly.

"This is Gakushuu, Nagisa." Karma smirked after they finally pulled away. An electrical drop resounded in the strawberry blonde when the bright eyes met his, smiling in a small friendly way as they exchanged simple greetings.

As if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, the corners of her lips raised at the sight of him, parting as she spoke in a sweet, cute voice.

* * *

Gakushuu's eyes kept on drifting back to take secretive glances as the girl beside him. He couldn't help it. Looking at her, it was hard not to hear echoes of the stories he had heard before returning to his mind. It was even harder to place that this aloof, innoccent eyed thing could be so flirty, spontaneous and full of surprises.

Karma sat at the back. He was far from his girlfriend, but seated almost perfectly so they both knew he would spend his lessons gawking at the girl with an impressive lack of boredom.

Despite this, his own best friend had landed a seat right beside Nagisa. He could smell her perfume (or was that just the essence of her skin?) whereas Karma could only dream of it.

It had only been a few hours since he had known her, yet he found himself liking her. There was just something about her that elicited his attraction, so confident, mysterious and distant. She had the kind of personality that made him want to reach out to her.

"Helloo? You're staring like a complete freak!" The blonde girl sitting one away from him had leaned over Nagisa's chair to look at the boy almost as protectively as Karma would have.

"I am? Well excuse me, I've heard about you for a long time Nagisa." He blinked apologetically, but the blunette shrugged, appearing unfazed and nowhere near as offended as her friend.

"Hm, as if that's your reason." The girl scoffed knowingly. He blocked her out completely.

"You're a lot more quiet than I imagined. All this time I pictured someone a little bit more... bubbly."

Nagisa turned and looked at him, tilting her head to laugh quietly,"That's strange Gakushuu. I actually haven't heard all that much about you at all."

She looked guilty, as if she were somehow at fault.

"I'd take that as a good sign, Karma won't waste his time talking about me, I'm not the one he's in love with am I?"

Where Gakushuu expected a blush, she turned half back to look at Karma, nodding at his already staring eyes before turning back to him. "I hope not. For your sake more than my own."

Her voice was quiet, and since she was smiling it was an obvious joke. Gakushuu couldn't respond though. His throat went dry, eyes catching the slightly red mark on her jaw where her boyfriend had forced her movements.

Soft blue hair covered the most of it, yet it still seemed to burn his eyes.

"You make him sound like an awful boyfriend?"

He hadn't expected his pause to be that obvious. He knew he had failed in subtlety when Nagisa bit her plump lip, "Sorry... you two have been friends for a while. I didn't mean to offend you..."

"No, I wasn't offended! I just... I thought you looked quite uncomfortable earlier, not to mention that you didn't really have a say in what he was doing."

His eyes fogged over and secrets came spilling out of her pretty lips in his imagination as she and him developed a trust. But in real life, her face went on twinkling, playing with a lock of short hair by her neck subconsciously.

"You know him. He can be very forward, really _persistent_ to get his own way."

"He is. But that's nothing you can't handle."

Nagisa's eyes met his for a second, then as if something had magnetised them elsewhere, she wasn't looking at him.

Would she not answer him?

"Hey," He reached out fingers barely grazing her arm only to be shocked by the warm, smooth skin that met him. Gakushuuu snatched his arm away, face red in realisation at what he had done. He glanced back, just knowing that Karma would be looking at him and burning mental lazer holes through his skull.

To his luck, the boy was preoccupied by looking ahead boredly as the girl beside him leaned over his desk to question him.

Nagisa turned back, looking at him as if nothing had happened. "I don't know what you call handling it, but Karma really is too much.." She laughed.

The seat beside her was now empty. It was just them on this row.

"Then, why are you with him?"

"D-Don't get me wrong, I do love Karma. I wouldn't want to be without him, and I couldn't imagine anyone else in his place. He's too much to handle but in a good way, why would you want to be with someone completely in your control anyway? That wouldn't be any fun."

Frowning at this reasoning, Gakushuu glanced back once more in uncertainty, seeing his red haired friend now alone, with the girl from before on the other side of the room screaming and clinging to her friend with her chair knocked onto the floor. He wondered what had happened, searching to meet gazes with his friend only to realise how pointless that was with the beautiful attention absorbing teen seated before him.

"I just don't understand how a good girl like you ended up with someone like that."

"Why haven't you ever asked him?"

"I'm sure his version of the story is miles apart from your own."

Nagisa laughed, eyes distant. "You're right. I guess it was more gradual than sudden. He used to tease me so much, I wouldn't have guessed for the life of me that he had a crush on me until he had made it obvious he did in front of the whole class. I couldn't keep telling him 'No' without good reason when he clearly wasn't accepting it anyway. There was no point wasting my energy, so I kind of just accepted it. Before I knew it, we were together. It's not like he's bad anyway."

"You mean he kept asking you?"

Her eyes widened, "Asked is a polite way of saying it... it being something I don't think you really want to hear..."

"I'm listening."

She blinked at him, leaning back in her chair and giving in. "He kept buying me gifts, he kept making me sweets and putting them on my desk, after about a month, things started going missing, like my umbrella's so I had to go under his in the rain, like my out door shoes so he had to carry me or lend me the brand new shoes for his 'friend' he just happened to be carrying with him. He would pull down my hair and yell for all of the boys to look even though he knew I didn't like that and so on, so on, I even went home one evening and found him talking to my dad." She looked back at her boyfriend, her blue hues wavering like ice about to turn into water. Instead though, she blinked and reestablished their polar strength, laughing weakly.

"Persistent isn't nearly strong enough."

If those words hadn't been said by the most beautiful lips and fluttery blinking lashes, Gakushuu would have probably coughed up and not spoken to either in the pair again.

As this sunk in, a friend swept by and spoke briefly to her.

He was sure that was a form of abuse...  
He was convinced that translated to their relationship being forced...  
He swore that something like this was what let to depression and social illness in the future...

His eyes had somehow blurred out Nagisa's pretty sight set on his silently in his thought, not noticing until the same girl yelped in embarrassment as her boyfriend appeared from behind her and bit he top of her ear.

He didn't notice he was glaring until accidentally meeting his friends eye.

But instead of smiling and explaining himself, his gaze shot away, jerking out of his seat to talk to someone else.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Come on, more power than that!"

Karma's toe knocked the ball from beneath his friends shoe with ease.

"Don't need it." Gakushuu muttered, smirking triumphantly as his foot circled swiftly and brought the ball back into his posession. He turned, putting his back between his friend and the ball, feeling him slam into his back before growling and showing restraint.

"What's wrong, you pissed off you can't be violent in sports Karma? You want to kick something other than the ball?" He snickered. "Well you're not gonna get it-"

He kicked the ball, solid in impact before the redhead could run into the goal. To both of their disappointment, they watched as it flew off of the ground and well above the area of target, bouncing off the back wall hard before launching off into the field in the opposite direction.

Karma mocked loudly,"What the hell was that? If you're gonna boast make sure you actually get the point."

He ran for the ball, retrieving it in minutes, passing it to Gakushuu who was still red in the face and huffing when he returned.

"You're not focused. Is your dad pissing you off again?"

The Asano boy swallowed, holding his head high when he groaned. "He's not."

"Well you're not focusing. Fix up or I won't waste my time."

He sucked his teeth resiliently. Karma took a threatening step forward.

"Alright. I'll focus. Shit." He cursed brushing his hair out of his eyes.

Karma snorted, "We'll try that again. If it doesn't get in I'm leaving."

The redhead backed up into the goal so he could intervene as Gakushuu hid his bitter expression and took his aim.

"No problem."

He fired the ball, and to no surprise, it landed in the goal. What did strike him as odd though, was that his goal keeper hadn't made a single move.

Suddenly even more pissed off that he hadn't been taken seriously, he marched up to his friend. "What the he-"

"Good kick." Karma slapped his shoulder roughly, eyes hazy and straight ahead as he walked by him like a zombie in sight of brains.

"Where are you-"

He didn't need to finish his sentence, he already knew the answer to it when he saw a certain girl and her friends walking by.

The coach took no notice of the player that left, leaving his team at an odd number. So, too prideful to admit that he had been ditched, Gakushuu slipped out unnoticed as well. They didn't have long left of their session anyway.

* * *

The door to the changing room slammed shut behind him. Ignoring the sight of Karma invading Nagisa's personal space on the way in, he smiled approvingly while facing the other direction when the girl's two friends pushed the boy away and lectured him.

By the time he left the showers, the changing rooms were full. He was surprised to even see his best friend beside the boys. Their eyes met, Karma's thankfully no longer showing that abhorred look of being spellbound.

"Are you sane again?"

Karma nodded, nudging the other out the way so he could step into the shower.

"Nagisa's gonna walk with us today. You okay with that?"

"Sure." He shrugged.

"You can wait outside but don't talk to her if you're alone there."

The door shut on his face without further discussion.

* * *

"Your friends really don't like it when I touch you do they? Do you think they're jealous?" Karma asked the awkward question without hesitance.

"I know for a fact that you're neither of my friend's type."

"I wasn't talking about myself Nagisa~"

"Wh-Oh." She shuddered, clearly not wanting to dwell on the idea of her friends being in love with her, "You're not normal, anyone else would be made jealous by that."

"I'm not? I thought you said I was..." Nagisa froze when she felt hot breath against her ear. The third in their group didn't know exactly what was said, but knew that blue eyes wouldn't widen and flicker about frantically for no reason.

Her cheeks pinkened in a way never seen before by Gakushuu and therefore very amusing to him, matching the colour of her lips. "Kar-"

Her hand tried to push him off, but Karma's covered hers, easily over powering her until they were somehow holding hands as he laughed a dark almost sadistic sound.

Gakushuu would have been as terrified as he were concerned but something hot and equally dark had filled up in his chest at the sight.

"How about you not traumatise everyone we pass today, including me." He scoffed, standing between them and making a line to separate them. Despite acting disgusted, their exchange was strangely ... enjoyable to watch. Well, Nagisa's reactions were, Karma's on the other hand made him sick.

"You must be a virgin if seeing this traumatises you. You have a lot to learn little boy."

"Please stop talking. The idea of you and Nagisa doing something like that makes me even sicker."

"Thank you...I-I think." Nagisa muttered.

"Don't worry, that was mainly directed towards Karma. I have no problem imagining you- well um... I wouldn't be disgusted but I-I respect you so.." It wasn't like him to make a blunder like that, but before he knew it, he was getting hotter and hotter in the face with embarrassment.

Much to his relief, Nagisa took it as a joke. "It's fine! I knew that was what you... I knew you would say something decent that's why I said thank you."

They both blushed slightly, but shook it away with nervous laughter.

"I highly doubt what Karma said was true anyway. You have great friends, they care about you but that doesn't make them in love with you."

"I think so too, I'm really glad to have them."

Karma had stopped walking a while ago. He looked at the two from behind, his face was still, almost analytically looking at them, comparing their heights, the way they walked, the way they wore their uniforms and they way they kept taking glances at each other though never while the other was looking.

Suddenly, he wore a cheshire like grin.

The others stopped when they noticed his laughter coming from behind them. Turning to face him, they looked puzzled. Nagisa though looked sceptical.

"What's so funny?" Gakushuu was the one to ask.

He chucked from behind them, somehow sounding even more menacing as he walked over slowly, holding his fingers together like a picture frame to look at them.

"I was just thinking about how well you two get along~ Who would have thought that my own best friend and girlfriend would have so much in common."

There was no anger on his expression. No anger at all. That was the scary part. His words seemed to paralyse the both of them. Anxieties arose as he approached. Somehow his eyes flickering over them - which wasn't concerning before - now felt like the scrutiny of a police officer.

"Now that I see you two together like this, you sure do look good together~" He purred, making the others feel like the air around them was water and they were being circled by a shark.

"In fact, just yesterday you were telling me how pretty you thought she was weren't you Gakushuu, I bet you have feelings for her already, because she is just so very _beautiful_ and you haven't even found out what she's like to kiss yet..." He drawled on.

Regrettably, Gakushuu felt easy and weak as his words took affect, planting traces of arousal and want in his mind that kept on growing.

"K-Karma.." Nagisa intervened, trying to warn the other of what was acceptable. His words had no effect, as usual she had no control.

"That's right, you should kiss her! You would like that wouldn't you Gakushuu? Don't be shy, kiss her. Or maybe she should be the one to make the first move."

He stopped just behind the girl. He wasn't smiling anymore, but the only way she saw this was to look up at him, making their height difference so clear. Making her feel so much tinier, so much more anxious.

"So which of you is it gonna be?" His voice seemed to have lowered an octave. Nagisa's shoulders seemed tensed nervously, like kitten about to be pounced on my a tiger, she bit her lip flinching when Karma's hands caught her neck and turned her back to look at his best friend.

Gakushuu himself was looking away blushing. His chest was heavy with humiliation, and he knew he had to say something, he just couldn't think of what. Or maybe it was that he was too nervous to stand up to his friend while he was acting this way? He couldn't be a coward like this, what could he say that would calm Karma, that would reassure Nagisa...

The boy with strawberry blonde hair hadn't been looking. If he had he could have reacted in time, but he didn't. He also didn't need to have seen the incriminating action to know that Nagisa had been pushed.

She stumbled forward, headed straight for the pavement before she could even scream, before he could reach out to her and before he could ever hope to catch her. She was about to hit the pavement when Karma caught her by the collar of the shirt and yanked her up into his arms.

The girl clung to him weakly, her shoulders still hunched and eyes still shut in fear until the sound of something small and plastic hitting the concrete awoke her.

She pulled back from Karma like he was poison, looking down to reveal that three of the top buttons on her shirt had been pulled free, revealing her innocent white silk vest, unfortunately not high enough to completely cover the smooth pale curve of her chest.

"Why did you do that!?"

Her anger snapped the others from their shock. If only this road had been a little bit busier, someone on the street could have reported the blatant harassment. Now, that pressure rested on Gakushuu's shoulders, still feeling like his respectable best friend's display of behaviour had somehow punched him in the stomach.

"I just brought this...What's my dad going to think?"

The third had nearly gasped at her. She clearly wanted to shout at him for something else, was she too afraid?

"I'm sorry Nagisa." her boyfriend coaxed, looking fully apologetic only to find his acting wasted as Nagisa avoided the boy who had nearly hurt her's gaze to her best ability.

She still hadn't noticed that neither boys had their eyes on her's either. Or the fact that crossing her arms over her chest only proved to push more up into sight.

Karma evilly took this opportunity to trace his fingers lightly from behind her ear onto her soft neck, bringing her wide, vulnerable blue orbs onto his before his fingers made the sudden decline down between her sensitive flash.

"Ah!"

A shock coursed through her, a sudden burst of tingling pleasure but more than anything else, violation. "K-Karma!"

She reacted as if she had been attacked, backing up only to find Gakushuu behind her. The cold left her as he placed his jacket over her shoulders, quickly fastening the first few buttons to cover her sufficiently. Looking over at him from the side, she was unaware that the fear from her face faded with his kind treatment.

She opened her mouth to thank him, but he pulled off of her sharply, taking her by near her elbow and leading her down the pavement with haste.

"Let's try get you home before your Dad comes back."

Karma followed behind them at his own leisurely pace, more than content with the fresh memories of a beautiful bank of expression's and Nagisa clinging onto his arms after he had pulled her back up to occupy him as he did.

* * *

 **Reviews are appreciated : )**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Things were awkward between Gakushuu and Nagisa for a while. Somehow, things with Karma for both of them had gone back to normal, but it felt as though the boy had no memory of what had happened, leaving Gakushuu and Nagisa as the only ones with the burden of having to react to it.

Gakushuu no longer needed convincing that his friend was no good. It just scared him that he could know someone for nearly his whole life and find that they were hiding such a dark side of their personality.

Now... it was just a matter of what he should do. The longer he withheld from acting, the more open Nagisa would be to situations like the one he had been unfortunate enough to see a few nights prior. He knew he couldn't be there to intervene for all of them.

Although, even when he had been there he hadn't done anything to stick up for her. That was eating away at him more and more.

Karma had gotten bored of school by now and spent most of his time bunking, leaving Nagisa alone in the class of teenage boys. Gakushuu felt responsible for protecting the girl and keeping her out of harms way when Karma wasn't around.

That night, when Nagisa had been in his arms looking up at him with eyes full of gratitude and emotion had felt too nice for him to admit it, or he would have ended up leaning in to stay there forever.

Karma was right. He really did want to kiss Nagisa, she would probably taste as sweet as she smelled. But if he did kiss her, she would either slap him or one of her friends would. Even another boy in the class could potentially rat him out to his best friend, and that couldn't be good.

He rolled his eyes at that thought. Since when did he back down to Karma? They had always had disputes and arguments, always tried to compete with each other to see who could outshine the other. He should have known things would be the same once one of them got a girlfriend.

While he was thinking, a boy from behind them had decided it would be a good idea to lean over and touch the girl's hair.

The motion caught his eye before Nagisa could feel it, and he found himself acting without thought. It was like him touching the precious blue hair would taint it. Gakushuu twisted the wrist sharply, unusually violent of him, though he ended up stopping before he could seriously hurt the boy.

It was the middle of class, so the teen knew he couldn't threaten him just as well as his victim knew he couldn't make a big deal out of it without the story somehow ending up being heard by Karma. That same boy was frozen now at the realisation that he had been caught by the sadist of the class' best friend of all people. He thought he was done, for sure, but Gakushuu only glared, locking their eyes just long enough to have the boy feeling inferior before letting go, releasing a hand that was nearly lifeless from lack of circulation.

It was unfortunate as the boy didn't know they shared the same enemy in the girl's boyfriend.

Nagisa and Gakushuu found themselves forced to speak to each other. eventually. It was natural given their seating position, though the over confident boy was blatantly at the disadvantage when the blunette turned to face him, smiling in a friendly way despite the embarrassment of their recent predicament.

"Thank you for looking out for me."

"Y-You already said that the other night."

"I did. I meant thank you for looking out for me again. I saw what you did to that boy earlier."

The strawberry blonde actually found himself unsure of which specific boy she was referring to. Since this morning, there had been three. The first in class, the second at break telling tales to his friends that made Nagisa out to be no where near as elegant and graceful as she really was, gladly earning himself a very awkward argument with the more intelligent boy, going on to later discover that his bag had been thrown out of the window at some ungiven point so that his things sprawled out on the concrete or had travelled away with the wind.

The third was a matter of minutes ago. He was having a birthday get together, and even though Gakushuu was positive the brute wasn't close to Nagisa, he had invited the girl to his party. That itself made him feel like he had swallowed a bare wire, but it was only later when Gakushuu consulted the boy's friends out of sheer instinct that something was wrong did he learn that the boy wasn't really planning on having a party. It wasn't even his birthday, he had just made an excuse to get Nagisa alone with him outside of school so he could talk away from the girl's boyfriend.

In this situation, what Karma would have done was throw a punch right then. But Gakushuu was different. He considered himself to have more self control, to be more civilised, and on many occasions, much smarter.

Nagisa wouldn't be meeting that boy this weekend. But thanks to certain arrangements, someone else would be, someone who happened to think they were meeting Nagisa.

Earlier that day, a sick sense of rebellion had riled up in him at looking over the girl's slim shoulders to forge her handwriting and slide a letter into another perverted assailant's locker, telling him the meeting place, telling him she wanted to see him and telling him she thought he was _special._

He knew they would be angry at each other, not to mention ashamed at being tricked, but the best part of it was that they would think they had been played by Nagisa. They would hate her! If they hated her, they wouldn't want to date her would they, meaning she would be all his. Excluding Karma of course, but his benefit was that no matter how horrible he made her out to be, no rumours would be spread with the threat of them being heard by her explosively violent boyfriend.

Though, there was no way Nagisa could have knwon this so she obviously couldn't have been referring to that action.

He smiled right back gently, "He deserved it. I'm just happy to keep you out of harm's way."

They spoke a bit more, about their classmates, their work, themselves and something funny that had happened on the weekend.

Multiple times in their conversation, Gakushuu noticed smaller details about Nagisa that he found increasingly adorable. From the way her lips moved prettily as she spoke, to the way the fingers of her non-dominant hand fidgeted at her side while she wrote. He couldn't keep staring at the colourful flecks in her bright eyes for long without being affected by it, and felt himself struggling to control his pleasure at simply being able to watch her.

In fact, Nagisa had noticed his blatant blush, even bringing that into light in their conversion, once again practically choking him for words. Stuttering, he responded with how it was hot, rambling about how he was wearing his football uniform below. To his pleasant surprise, Nagisa nodded intently with her doe eyes, not at all disgusted or shy.

"Better too hot than cold I guess."

"M-Mhm."

Still, there was a fluency Gakushuu was missing, where was his usual confidence and strength? Where were his witty remarks and obstinate challenges? He had easily led girls in the past to develop little crushes on him, so why was it so hard with her?

Why did he feel like he was a student and Nagisa was his teacher, when things were completely the other way around with everyone else?

Suddenly, the cap of the pen Nagisa had been flicking popped off and hurled down. Reacting quickly, Gakushuu reached out to retrieve it. But he shut down when he felt Nagisa's hand knock into his when she tried to get it as well. Worst of all, the cap had landed on her thigh. Her thigh.

He snapped his hand back, eyes wide, heat rushing to his face as his mouth opened to stutter out the most unthought out, insincere awe-struck apology only to find Nagisa paying him little to no attention as she thanked him and pried the cap from his fingers, oblivious to the way her soft touch made his palms sweat shyly.

His breath was heavy in his chest. What was this yearning feeling inside of him that could only be satisfied by delighting in fantasies of leaning in close to the girl and hearing laugh, running his hand over her cheeks, staring into her azure gaze and burying his hands in her ice blue hair that looked so soft.

It was easy to label these feeling as love. That would mean he loved Nagisa. He definitely loved her.

Things had changed over the course of time. Nobody messed with Nagisa anymore, and at nearly all times, the girl had a body guard figure looming over her to keep her from harm's way as if the average school day came with so many threats.

Currently, it was Gakushuu in this position, eyes bead like as he leered around the halls, not needing to speak to intimidate. At the efficiency of him keeping her under his wing like this, he developed an arrogance that let him feel like a king walking beside his future queen. People were afraid to touch Nagisa, to speak to her, to approach her, to lend her a pen, or smile at her or even let their gaze linger for too long.

There was a thrill in having her to himself like this. He felt so in control, nothing could break out of his demand.

But in real life, even for him things weren't that smooth.

A despicable figure had dared to approach Nagisa, worming into her breathing space, walking the ground she walked on and looking into her eyes right from beneath his vision.

His mouth opened. At this point, he had a vast vocabulary of phrases that could make anyone wish to end their own life. The first syllable escaped.

Unfortunately, the rest of it mutated into a gasp at the sight before him. Nobody would dare to get that close to Nagisa - in his rage, nobody could have challenged him. He picked up on their hands locked together and blind red led him to slam that figure back into the wall, creating a large thud of impact as Gakushuu sneered loudly enough for the whole corridor to hear miles down, "You stay the hell away from he-"

Karma looked over at his friend with puzzled golden eyes. There was a hint of suspicion, but mainly, the gaze consisted of that curiosity that had the overconfident strawberry blond paling and backing away with the feeling of being a monkey at a zoo for spectation.

His hands slipped away from the collar he had been strangling almost fearfully.

"What are you doing?" The red head sneered, tilting his head to look under the other male's attempt to hide.

"I was looking out for your girl. Didn't realise it was you. Sorry."

He mumbled in a way that was clearly hostile, hoping he hadn't been discovered. Karma only hummed still smirking.

"So you're looking out for her huh? Aren't you a lucky girl Nagisa~ Two handsome boys at your side all day..."

Watching from the sidelines, purple eyes narrowed at the sight of their hands locking together again, their eyes meeting in secret communications and smiling at each other with detestable agreement. The whole thing was a mockery to him... an intentional insult.

* * *

Karma was mocking him. There was no denying it by now. He had the feeling creeping up on him that wherever the hell Karma was right now, he was grinning to himself just by knowing that the evidence he had left on Nagisa was being seen by Gakushuu right now. There were the mouth shaped marks adorning Nagisa's flawless throat like a brandish.

The fact that so many other boys had seen this repulsed him. They would taint her with their eyes and bring her to their fantasies were she didn't belong. How could his best friend be so keen on marking her where everyone could see? How could he be so keen on sucking her so many times? On biting so hard until they were purple?

The idea of Nagisa being in pain bothered him a bit, but the fact that he could diminish her into looking like a sex object for so many others to see made his fists curl up.

Today Nagisa wore her hair down not that it mattered. It did little to hide her neck being such a pale, frosty colour.

Gakushuu found that the pale lilac scarf he had brought with him suited this function quite well. His fingers brushed her warm skin as he draped it over her, head tilted up, hands busy raising her hair, unconsciously revealing more dirty remnants of her passion with her boyfriend.

"That tickles.." she accused, shoulders shaking as she tried not to laugh.

"This perfume you're wearing.." He hummed thoughtlessly, inhaling the mixed scents that seemed to waft from her hair and the forbidden zone under her shirt into a delectable blend.

 _"You can smell it? Karma got it for me actually. It's really nice isn't it?"_

* * *

He glared at the back of the redhead before him. Karma kept on walking, oblivious to it all as they entered the changing rooms. It was dark outside. They had stayed to practice late as a make up session for all of their spontaneous moments of escape.

Their conversation was quite one sided. It lacked the spark it used to have. Though, Gakushuu was unsure of whether or not they both felt this way, or if Karma had found their conversations this dull to begin with having known Nagisa the whole time.

He seemed pretty into it and cheery however. So far, Gakushuu hadn't given more than a three word response.

"Where are the lights..." he tutted eventually, feeling against the wall for a switch he had never actually had to find before during the day.

Karma's eyes were the only thing visible to him as he looked back.

"Just leave them off. You're not scared are you?" He scoffed.

"Of course not." The other deadpanned.

They continued on changing in silence.

"It is impractical though..." He commented later.

"Admit it, you're afraid~"

"I'm not." He grimaced.

Silence ensued again. No longer a fire to their conversations. No longer a heated debate, no longer an enquiry or scheme to expose the ideas or intentions of one as they competed. Instead, Gakushuu made sure they were in a stubborn, protesting silence.

Considering the way Karma could flick like a switch when in the presence of someone he liked verses someone he disliked, Gakushuu was being reckless in letting his dispute be so obviously discovered. Again, this wasn't like him, but even without the girl being in the room, she was making him careless.

"So how's your girlfriend?"

He froze, pausing at catching the trap, nearly answering until he spotted the hidden meaning.

"What do you mean, I don't have a girlfriend?" Playing dumb was the best option. Without a doubt, there had been a change in the atmosphere from that single question alone.

The strawberry blond teen was suddenly aware of the darkness and silence. It was only them here. Maybe only them and a few cleaners in the whole building. If he were to scream really loudly like he was being stabbed, would there be anyone to hear it? If they were to kill each other, would the bodies be discovered within minutes or hours, or even days?

He pulled his shirt over his head, glad to be nearly done.

"You don't? If poor Nagisa was here she would be offended and heartbroken."

"Nagisa's your girlfriend, genius." He spoke more playfully, treading carefully in the darkness. His eyes had adjusted, but that wasn't much good with his head down and looking at his stuff. He grabbed his bag, swinging it over his shoulder and turning around. The voice that spoke up next was right by his ear. Right where he had been facing less than a moment ago.

"Exactly."

His breath hitched in. Karma was so close he could barely see him. The spot between his eyes, that was what he saw. He swallowed, stepping back.

They were too close in the wide, dark space. It was too risky, too uncomfortable.

That look in his eyes was not to be messed with. Though, it was a little different from his usual look. This look couldn't be described as angry high school student... it suited the common idea of a serial killer.

"What do you mean exactly, of course she's your girlfriend, what are you implying?" He hissed, narrowed eyes looking quickly from each of his limbs so when the attack came he would hopefully have some time to react. It was like waiting for the final strike that could end a long game, only the pressure was multiplied by dozens.

Was it best to play innocent? To act like friends? Maybe he should make out he has no interest in her?

This usually worked, so why was Karma still edging closer to him. How had his back found the cold tile wall already? How was he trapped so far from the door with his own best friend yet fearing for his life with his own pulsating blood ringing in his ears.

Karma's hand dragged out slowly, reaching over to the other boy's shoulder the way one would stroke a pet. He waited for a pain that didn't came, easing from his flinch only to find that the action was no harsher than a pat on the back.

Or so he had thought. Karma lifted the blue hair between his fingers dauntingly, not looking at it adoringly as he would, but burning curses into Gakushuu's eyes as he held the hair up to his victim's face to see.

"This was on your shoulder.." his mouth was pressed into a thin line.

Shit. Had it been there the whole time? Had Karma been planning this since he saw it?

"It must have come from when I lent her my sca-"

 _"Did you touch Nagisa?"_

Why now of all times was he swayed by the alluring memory of her soft feathery strands, her silky tone of blue and fluid motion of her hair flying as she turned. Yes he had touched her, on the thigh, on the hair on the bare skin of her check and even gently on her neck.

"Well her hair clearly must have-"

His voice died under Karma's smile-less laugh. Then, the boy leaned in even closer. Close enough to stab him without him even seeing it...

Gakushuu swallowed hard, eyes closing at the assault of the words spoken by the low voice.

"That's the thing with Nagisa," You wouldn't think he was threatening if you heard his voice alone, "Her hair is soft to touch isn't it? But nowhere near as soft as her skin. Even that isn't as pleasurable as her same skin being under your lips and tongue after she's become sweet from your touches...though that isn't something for you to experience, is it?"

He shook his head now, fearing for the life of him that disobedience would have consequences.

When Karma put the healthy distance between them, he stopped just to marvel the expression of his humiliated work. His friend glared up with his lips together in humiliation and his face laughably red as his own hair.

It was a spiteful look shot at him, one that told him he was disgusting, that he didn't deserve Nagisa, but most of all, that to Gakushuu, he was terrifying, and that he couldn't do anything about that but silently obey him and glare.

The red haired boy laughed grandly, punching him playfully, taking ahold of his cheek and tugging playfully as though trying to cheer him up.

His voice lowered though as he spoke finally, _**"Nagisa is my girlfriend. Remember that."**_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Contrary to the beliefs of many jealous girls and rejected boys, Nagisa Shiota wasn't stupid. In their classroom, she saw and heard a lot. All of the rumours, all of the stories, all of the lingering gazes on her as well as the unspoken words shared between the pair of conflicting best friends she had torn apart.

Of course she would notice these things, any person with half a common sense would. For a lot of the time though, she was unsure of how to react to them. Boys and girls calling her names... she could ignore that. Gakushuu trying not to be too obvious in his blushing, stuttering stares... that could be ignored as well. But the small crush she believed he had on her tearing apart his friendships... there was no way she could let that go on without feeling partly to blame.

It was without a doubt herself at fault, even if she tried to make herself appear content with her boyfriend. Even if she tried to have minimal conversation with him and turned a blind eye of innocence to him that told him they weren't going anywhere. The boy still hadn't bored of her. This couldn't go on.

Recently, Nagisa appeared to be even more consumed by her daydreams. But her sight was apparently not the slightest bit less amusing, as Gakushuu's gaze burned into hers from beside her, merging with Karma's and making every movement for her feel like it came with a consequence.

Should she tell him he was making her uncomfortable?

No. Not with Karma here. She was too afraid of making things worse.

* * *

"I don't see you two talking together that often."

"That's because you're always here to distract me~" The Akabane responded.

"D-do you think I'm coming between your friendship?"

He cocked his head to the side carelessly, "Is it really that important?"

"I don't know. You're the one whose been friends with him for years."

"I don't need friends Nagisa. I have you to keep me company."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. It was always such a struggle to get through to him. "Well, what if one day you don't have me, you would miss him as a friend, you would be angry that you had thrown him away wouldn't y-"

"Nagisa." His voice was low, stepping towards her and closing the gap between them. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"N-nothing, this is a purely theoretical situation."

"Good." His hands curved around both sides of her face like he was framing a picture. He had to tilt her up a lot for their gazes to meet at this proximity. "Because if you decide to leave me, I'll hurt someone you love every single day until you come back to me."

He said the words like he had recited a simple poem about roses and sunflowers. The blue haired girl would have shuddered if she wasn't so used to it by now.

She nodded, pouting her lips up to him until he gave her a light peck and released her. She prayed that her Dad hadn't seen them from the window.

* * *

"You two aren't speaking?"

"I wouldn't go so far as that. He's speaking to me alright, but we've slipped into a kind of silent agreement that I won't say much back." He snorted like the whole thing was a childish joke. Nagisa new better than that, he knew the boy had been humiliated in some way, and found himself mentally scolding the redhead who of course was absent now for his least favourite teacher's lesson.

"Are you sure it's not just you not wanting to talk to him?"

"Why are you asking this, did he say something to you?" He frowned, trying to change the subject away from himself speaking.

"No. I've just noticed the drift between you two. Personally, I don't think he's the one that's angry with you."

"He's made himself pretty clear. You... you know how he is. How he makes it easy for people to get mad at him.."

"I know he struggles with not appearing threatening. Maybe him acting aggressively is just his way of showing affection?"

Nagisa thought she had been successful with Gakushuu's thoughtful silence. Clearly, she had been wrong.

"I'm glad you're speaking to me about these, I've actually been trying to ask. Is Karma ever..." He searched for the right word, "Violent towards you. Do you enjoy being 'with' him?"

She frowned up at the boy. "He's aggressive by nature I think, that doesn't make our relationship any more difficult."

"That's not want I meant. I mean... when you have sex-"

At this, Nagisa couldn't contain his attack of laughter, hiding her face with her hands as she tried not to come across as condescending.

Gakushuu's eyes showed confusion, but mainly he was awestrucken, unfortunately this was one of the times where she was unaware of his almost perverse stare.

"I don't know what he's said to you, but I've never had sex before. Neither has he." She explained, eyes smiling at him honestly, cheeks pink shyly. Gakushuu felt something in his stomach drop, flip, and then rise up with a new sense of anger.

On one hand, Nagisa was till pure, on the other hand, a lot of his truculence had come from something that was even true to begin with.

Karma had been lying this whole time to make him uncomfortable. He had lied about having this victory over him when he really didn't. It was one thing for him to tell tales about himself, but for him to drag Nagisae down with him made him want to do something worse to him than what he had done to the other liars who had told similar tales.

* * *

"We can't go home, dad's gonna be there all day."

"Why don't we just go to mine?" Karma suggested.

Nagisa blushed shyly, playing with one of her pigtails as she spoke coyly, "Actually, I found a huge unlocked cupboard yesterday on an errand. I wanted to go and... explore it."

The way she spoke was so irresistible, Karma found himself lead on the immature journey to the mysterious store cupboard he had never heard about, blindly trusting the girl until he landed in the dark room.

"I don't see what's to explore," He announced, noticing the shallow end of the regular sized dark room, "You had other intentions didn't you, Nagisa~"

There was silence and darkness.

"Nagisa?" He frowned, body tingling with the anticipation of being attacked from his blind spot.

That was until he heard the door click from the outside.

"Nagisa? What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry Karma, just wait here patiently until I come back please."

"What am I supposed to do? Nagisa?!"

* * *

"Where did you say it was? I can't see anything?"

The door slammed shut behind him. On the other side of it, Nagisa grinned in victory as she leaned against the door, but not without locking the door before either occupants could try to escape.

"Nagisa? Wha- Why did you lock me in?"

"I know this is unorthodox but... I'm not opening this door until I hear you two talking about your problems and coming to some kind of agreement!"

"Two?"

Gakushuu turned around sharply in the darkness, eyes scanning and adjusting to see Karma leaning against the shelf on the back wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his face stoic.

He backed up against the door, remembering their last encounter in a similar environment and cringed.

"Nagisa, you're crazy. There's no problem with us!"

"Nice try, but I'll believe that when I hear the evidence!"

He turned back to the strangely calm boy parallel to him and frowned, "Are you just going to let her get away with this messed up cliche scheme?"

He sighed, eyes rolling up from the ground to meet his, "What are you expecting me to do about it that you can't do? The girl wants us to talk, she'll get her way."

The silence that followed was so awkward, neither knew what to do with their eyes.

"C-Come on Nagisa, don't you have to get home at some point?!" Gakushu tried.

"Not today!"

"Well I do so if my dad comes down here looking for us..!"

"I guess you'd better get talking then!"

Karma laughed from opposite him, "You're still afraid of that old guy?"

His eyes narrowed uncooperatively, "I'm not. Just trying to buy us out of here." He muttered.

"Come on then," Karma mocked, "Lets talk. What's the problem between us? What could it possibly be?"

They both snorted out awkward laughter. Eventually, that died down to quiet again.

"So uh... we're friends right? There's no reason for us to be in here any longer?"

Gakushuu tried once more.

"Hmm." Karma chewed his cheek, "Or we could do as the princess likes and battle it out for real."

The horror at the idea was so clear on the strawberry blonde's face it made Karma laugh.

"So you don't even want to fight?" he scoffed,"How are you ever going to please Nagisa, no wonder she's not with you."

"She's not with me because she's your girlfriend - I don't want her to be my girlfriend!"

"You're pathetic, don't try and lie to me when your face is lit up like a flame."

He drew back in embarrassment, hand over his face in the least conspicuous way. "Don't talk to me about lying. I don't even know what to believe from your mouth anymore."

"Don't you sound upset." He drawled.

"You're not even going to ask what I'm talking about?" He sneered.

"I don't really care. But go on, tell me what you think I've lied about so badly to you?" He snickered with his lips twisted up defiantly.

"Nagisa told me you never had sex with her. I should have known, there's no way she would let you touch her like that."

Karma stared at him with his mouth open and his face still. Then, he laughed loudly, the sound so dark and menacing it could hardly be called a laugh at all.

Gakushuu was still, feeling remorseful for bringing the subject up at all.

"I-I don't know why you're so proud, virgin." He condescended the same way Karma had done to him. It backfired by setting him off again.

When he calmed, he faced a very annoyed looking boy with his golden eyes curiously gleaming.

"She lied to you." He sounded almost amused.

"What?" His head jerked in offence at the accusation. "Don't you dare try and cover your own lies by pinning the blame on Nagisa."

"I'm not." he was tranquil in a way that was concerning, hands in his pockets, eyes not too fixed or too averted.

"Why would she lie? Why would I believe you?" He glared.

"Maybe she was embarrassed, I don't know. But trust me, we've had s-"

"Enough!" He yelled, fists clenching at his sides.

"Does that make you angry? I thought it was obvious we fucked frequently." He taunted.

Suddenly he felt hands tightly around his collar as his hand was slammed back roughly into the solid wall behind him. "I told you to shut the fuck up."

"So now you want to fight?" His body tensed as Karma's hand viced around his arm, pulling him back with every ounce of severity in his face saying that Gakushuu would get hurt if he wasn't careful. "You're so easy to play you know that Gakushuu?"

He frowned, but pulled back, eyes looking down guiltily.

"I still don't believe you."

The following moment of silence let him clear his head. It was an obvious lie, he didn't know why he let the other's confidence affect him.

 _"Ah~ Ah...! Karma!~ Ah!..."_

His eyes shot up, seeing Karma's phone held in line with his eyes, his vision landing on what was thankfully only an audio tape. He didn't need a video to tell him who it was though. The airy, pleasure crazed moans that rang out like a song could only ever belong to one girl.

He felt, that if the video had been any longer than the torturous 17 seconds it lasted, he would have felt sick.

Karma's phone was slapped from his hand, Gakushuu going still after that, looking whiter than he had ever been seen before. This amused Karma enough to make him smile.

"Can you guess what we were doing?"

He swallowed. His skin felt sweaty and his eyes struggled to see any of reality, he could only imagine what was being done it his Nagisa, things he had never done himself, never been seen before, never even been imagined by him.

He felt like his knees would give out, so he sunk down slowly, pinching his temples to try and block out the pest before him.

"I have a small collection of pictures if you're still not convinced. Though, I wouldn't want you getting a bit too excited.."

"You're vile." He hissed, glaring up.

Karma laughed, nodding his head in agreement, "You will be too one day if your lucky."

"I wouldn't ever want to be like you. I'd never want to do something as repulsive as that."

Karma laughed at his innocence. Or was the word naivety?

"Come on. I'm sick of you. Lets get out of here." Hands landed on Gakushuu's shoulder and hoisted him up, patting the dust off of him so he was standing.

"Nagisa," Karma called out. "I think we can open the door now."

"Are you guys friends again?"

"Didn't you hear anything?"

Karma knew their voices had been too low, but also knew that Nagisa wouldn't let them know that. It wasn't long before the door clicked and light poured in with Nagisa her sight blessed them.

Like rechargeable batteries, Gakushuu felt his body being refilled at the sight of her.

"Come here Nagisa, I've missed looking at you~"

She walked over obediently, her boyfriend capturing her with his arms around her torso and his lips against hers.

"Did you hear us fight?"

"I didn't hear too much actually... I'm just glad you guys have sorted things out." She smiled at Gakushuu, and he smiled back.

Catching this, Karma's hands slipped up her body, coiling around her neck. She looked over at him with inquisitive innocence, only to find her lips captured again, this time, the kiss lingering for so long it was impossible not to stare.

Nagisa tensed, pulling her slim body back, only to find his hand around the back of her head forcing her near, he leaned in, what was going on behind that mouth was hidden from third party eyes, but as Nagisa gasped and flinched, Gakushuu could only guess with flushed cheeks what was going on.

Blue eyes flickered to his nervously. Karma pulled away, letting them catch their breath for barely two seconds before kissing again, visibly prying open her lips and locking their tongues together.

"K-Karma..!" Nagisa cried out, eventually stopping to look at the villainous boy before him. The girl knew he had been trying to make his best friend jealous, and knew with a sinking feeling that this meant they hadn't made up.

"Why did you-" The door slammed shut, leaving them in darkness.

"Why did you do that in front of Gakushuu!?" She exclaimed in disapproval. "Didn't you fix anything? He had to run aw-"

"I'm still in here."

Nagisa gasped at the voice, backing up until she hit Karma. The redhead coiled her into a trap immediately and wouldn't let her out.

"Did you just lock us in?" Karma asked, eyes narrowed to try and make out the figure of his friend.

"It's not locked." He said. "We can get out anytime. But nobody should come in."

"What are we-"

"You think I'm so useless, you think I'm so unappealing to Nagisa, but I can show you otherwise." His eyes were glazed over with reckless anger.

Once more, Karma found himself smirking in amusement at his best friend and his naive determination.

"What are you going to do?" He encouraged derisively, looking down as his eyes finally adjusted, his grip on his girlfriend didn't lighten as the purple eyed boy began unbuttoning his shirt...


	5. Chapter 5

**Beforehand I would like to say I am sorry for this chapter.**

 **Warnings: sexual content in this chapter specifically**

* * *

Chapter Five

"W-What are you doing?" The first sense of Nagisa's that registered was the smell of a cologne she knew not to be Karma's. She frowned, realising that Gakushuu was so close, she was face to face with his chest.

She backed up, but Karma was there stopping her, she twisted, glancing back in confusion, anxiety arising in her to see that foggy gaze of Karma's that told her she wouldn't be heard even if she screamed and pushed him.

The blunette cursed inwardly, turning back to face Gakushuu, thinking she could ask him for help. Thinking that like the first time the three of them had been together, he would help her to deal with Karma's concerning personality change.

She practically froze when she saw his eyes. He had lowered down, now with his face aligned with hers. She gasped loudly in surprise, unable to look away from the hazy mercury eyes that looked just as delusional as Karma behind her.

Trapped between the pair in the dark room, she realised the danger of her situation a little too late.

Gakushuu's lips met hers, tasting foreign, slightly different in shape, slightly warmer than what she was used to and certainly different in technique. Her attempt to pull away was diminished as on of Karma's hands slipped up from her waist to her hair, holding her in place as if she were some kind of puppet. She breathed out in annoyance and frustration, Gakushuu's fingers coiling under her chin as he claimed her lips again.

He licked clumsily, pressing their lips together curiously, exploring, increasing the pressure in some areas while rubbing their tongues together in a wet silky exchange at every opportunity. It wasn't long before Nagisa's felt herself heating up, gasping for breath at every chance.

Fingers found her chin, pulling her in for more. They pulled away gasping, as the Asano hadn't quite yet grasped the concept of breathing through his nose.

Taking this opportunity, Nagisa looked back to her boyfriend, "Karma-"

"It's okay Nagisa, let him try with you."

"I don't want hi-"

"Shh." Gakushuu's finger brushed against her lip to silence her.

"He's trying so hard to please you Nagisa~" There was amusement audible.

She backed away from the voice against her ear, but there was no where to run. Gakushuu leaned in to kiss her again, but she obstinately turned her neck to the side, not letting his lips land on hers. Karma scowled, scolding her for her disobedience, making her cheeks flush red in embarrassment.

"G-Gakushuu I like you and all... just not in _this_ way. I think you should stop."

Blatantly disrespectful to her, Karma pressed his own lips against her throat, planting small kisses, running his tongue along the sensitive flesh, then, just as he reached what he knew to be the most erogenous zone, he bit down.

She had barely finished speaking when her head tilted, mouth releasing a kitten like moan of pent up pleasure.

"K-Karma.." She stuttered weakly, her complaints eventually melting as Gakushuu dominated her lips yet again. This time, his tongue did more than just harmless prodding. He proved he was a quick learner in this moment, licking lightly until Nagisa gasped in embarrassment, reaching up to take hold of him and maybe push him away... maybe just let him hold her for a while.

Karma caught the hands of his girlfriend in his palm, tutting in disapproval in her ear. "Give into it Nagisa."  
Her eyes shut, trembling, her heart pounding so hard it made her feel sick in a foreign, frightening way.

Finally separating and putting distance between them, she felt Gakushuu slipping away. Her eyes dared blink open, one by one. It was still dark, she didn't know why she had expected some strange light to have switched on and changed things, but she had. Now, her hope was diminished by the hazy, out of touch with reality gaze of Gakushuu on her body.

"Take off her shirt, Gakushuu." Karma ordered, voice stable and low.

"K-Karma don't encourage this, why are you being this way-"

"I only want you to feel good Nagisa, trust me."

"I don't feel very good though."

"It will get better, I promise."

Cold fingers fumbling against her chest made her jolt up. She hadn't noticed it, but her vest was now bare, and her shirt tugged effortlessly off of her as Karma held back her struggling arms accordingly. Between the two of them, controlling their beloved girl like a doll was easy.

"Th-this is going too far-Ah!" Her complaint was shut off by rough fingers kneading her sensitive flesh through her thin layer of clothing. She instinctively arched away, stopping and yelping, feeling her buds pinched by the rough touch of her boyfriend pinching hard. Pleasure seemed to head down until she felt all warm, weak and wet, loosely releasing pants into Gakushuu's mouth as the boy's switched jobs again.

Unlike Karma, Gakushuu held her loosely, and by that hands rather than the wrists, linking their fingers as he ravaged her lips.

The girl flushed bright pink at the lewd sound that escaped her lips as they parted, still throbbing from Karma's teasing.

"You know where to go from here?"

Gakushuu swallowed, breaking his gaze with bold blue as if he had forgotten the other was even present. He frowned, his fingers subconsciously brushing Nagisa's hip in the sweetest way, fuelling the conflagration growing in Nagisa's lower stomach. She looked so vulnerable and there were even traces of desperation.

"That should be enough for now, there's no need to reduce Nagisa like that in a school cupboard."

Her head perked up at this, looking hopefully that Gakushuu had escaped his lustful state of mind, though knew that in her head this voice of reason struggled to shout over the part of her that coveted for this forbidden act.

She had become accustomed to the idea that she wouldn't escape the situation, so being denied it now was a admittedly disappointing.

But Karma's voice threatened from behind her, "That's it? That's how you're going to show her?"

Eyes narrowing like a snakes', Gakushuu hissed back. "You would really mistreat her like that? Can't you see she doesn't like it!"

Karma laughed again. Suddenly, Nagisa's head was jerked by the hair to facing the rapt boy in front of her. She tried not to glare, self conscious of his lecherous look of purple, but unable to look away.

"That's the difference between me and you. You think you know Nagisa but you don't. If you really did you'd know that she wants it more than any of us in this room right now. Look into these eyes; tell me you don't see that."

She hated being spoken about like she wasn't in the room, being held in place like an ornament for show and her mouth opened to speak. But what would she say, would she say she didn't and choose Gakushuu over Karma, or say she did and seem like a desperate slut?

"You're taking to long." The redhead growled ferally. He moved quickly, tugging his best friend closer by the collar, bringing the three of their bodies together harshly as if they were on a crowded train that bustled and bumped full of other people.

It was a good thing that wasn't the case, because both Nagisa and Gakushuu gave an unexpected gasp.

Their breaths permeated over each other's skin, distracting both blushing faces for just long enough for Gakushuu to be oblivious to his pants being unbuttoned and his length pulled out harshly.

"Argh..." Hissing, he and Karma wrestled, Nagisa between them, out of place like a toy unable to move from the danger.

"Get off-"

"You're embarrassing yourself."

"Y-You can't just grab me, be careful-"

"Just fucking put it in her already."

Karma was the first to let go, slamming the boy roughly on the shoulder and sending him several staggering steps backwards.

There was another glaring moment when Gakushuu felt resent for his supposed best friend, not only fueled by envy, but by shame and anger at his own physical inferiority, wishing he was strong enough to take the notorious Akabane in a fight and avoid all these manipulating schemes.

Suddenly, Karma slammed Nagisa against the wall, for once not offering her body half way towards Gakushuu.

"Fine then, if you don't fuck her I'll do it."  
His eyes widened in horror. Nagisa cried out that he should stop, demeaned with her clothes pulled down to her thighs and Karma's hips at the point of entry.

"Stop!" He cried out, his voice cracking as he shoved into his friend, pushing him roughly into the wall, now standing between them, holding Nagisa behind him in the corner.

"You'll do it?"

Lust flickered over his eyes, threatening to take control, stopping as the sound of Nagisa catching her breath filtered into his ears, knocking a cold breath of fresh sense into his mind.

His eyes hardened in disgust.

"This is so fucking wrong." He glowered, " _You're_ wrong! You have no right to do this to her!"

"Why don't I? I am her boyfriend."

"You're her fucking boyfriend, not her fucking owner!"

Karma's fist knocked against his face before he had even finished speaking. Nagisa gasped loudly, pulling herself together just in time to see the other getting up and wiping the blood from his face, closing his hands around the other male's throat and squeezing tightly.

"S-stop! Stop it!" She yelled, pulling their hands apart the best she could, her voice was sore and her breath still shaky from nerves.

Karma swung his body violently, the end of his shoe submerging in Gakushuu's stomach, making his fingers trembles and lose their grip.

In that one second of weakness, Karma had him on his knees with another kick of rubber slapping the boy in his unguarded face.

He knew that grabbing the other's ankle was pointless, but his anger wouldn't allow him to give up so easily as he grit his teeth and forced himself to stand regardless. Karma's assault stopped, interest piqued as the other glared at him with the intent hatred you would find between a man and his torturer.

When Gakushuu came to punch him, he threw his hands to the side and avoided the half swollen eyed boy with ease. To his surprise however, Gakushuu had known this would happen, darted behind the other and elbowing him roughly in a disabling point.

For once, the redhead actually felt pain, grunting in just about enough time to catch his stumbling knees. But persisting on, just as he had attacked his friend without a pause, the same boy continued to exact his revenge in the same way, striking Karma as many times as he could in as many joints as he could.

Dominant arm now numb, neck now sore and legs barely intact enough to keep him up, Karma made one last move, locking Gakushuu's head in his grasp and pulling the boy over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground and stepping onto his back so the body between the floor and his heel wouldn't be able move.

It would have been easy to trod the boy into oblivion, but at this point, they were both breathing heavily at mismatched paces and both with enough injuries for Karma at least to see that fighting anymore wouldn't get them anywhere.

"Nagi-"

The door was wide open. Nagisa was gone.

"Shit." Only now did he realise that there was a faint electrical light filtering into the room making it easier to see each other.

Gakushuu was struggling below him, but no longer breathing heavily. Though it was clear he was still enraged.

"Y-You fucker!"

Karma sunk to the floor, sitting on his friend back like he were a rug, still not letting him up.

"Look what you did! Nagisa's go-"

"It's not what I did. It's what we did." Gakushuu stopped speaking, tilting his head at an angle so he could see the glare that shot down at him like a poisoned arrow.

"I wouldn't have done it if it weren't for you."

"Are you not the one that closed us in on a cupboard, I tried to help you but no, you just wanted to play the fucking good boy hero and act like you were suddenly better than it all."

Gakushuu went silent, face red.

"I-I'm sorry okay. You're still every bit as much of a low fucking scumbag... I'm just sorry I let Nagisa come over me like that and make me act so pathetically."

The redhead snorted. "I'd never have let you actually go along with touching her more than I'd let you." He sneered, voice lethal in the space of a second,"The only reason I invited you to play along with your silly little game was to eventually crush your hope when she rejected you. Too bad you were to pussy for even that."

Karma's weight finally left him. He wasted no time in standing up.

With the lingering soreness, purple eyes glared down at the floor for a moment before finally remembering their purpose. Nagisa was his goal and she _wouldn't_ reject him. Not over a sadistic bastard like Karma.

"We have to find Nagisa."

Looking around, his friend was already gone, but the echo of his footsteps in the hallways lead him out, not sparing a single final glance at the desolate cupboard where he had nearly committed so many shameful wrongs.

"You're right." The response sounded like he wasn't too fazed, his hands were even in his pockets. But he was walking quickly, his eyes were straight ahead. "Guess we'll see who finds her first."

"That's not fair. You know where she is don't you. Tell me or I'm coming with you-"

"Where do you think she is?" He almost shouted, the pressure of annoyance on his features.

Gakushuu narrowed his eyes,"I'm guessing she hasn't gotten far, but we don't know when exactly she left so-"

"To her house. _Idiot._ It's late, where else would she be?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Nagisa stopped outside of her house. She was so ashamed and exhausted she nearly forgot herself.

A movement from her dad's bedroom window caught her eye.

Hastily tugging her ahir from it's ties, she pulled it up into a messy updo that made it look shorter and more boyish. She kicked her girl's shoes off and stepped into the pair of slightly too big boy's shoes she had hidden behind two flower pots in the front and buttoned up her jacket to make her shy feminine figure less visible.

Only after these precautions did she unlock the door, hit by the warmth of the house, she kicked off her loose shoes with ease immediately, calling out to her father, telling him that she was home.

"Nagi," Her tall, slim father appeared on the stairs, smiling down welcomingly at his daughter, still smelling strongly of his cologne and dressed head to toe in his work clothes.  
"How was school, did you finish that work you had to catch up on?"

When the girl eventually spoke, her voice was a subtle difference lower, words were pronounced differently and faces made different expressions. She often wondered if someone from school would even recognise her if they saw her this way.

"School was fine," She lied easily, all shame and regret gone from her eyes. "I got a merit on that project I was working on for geography."

She conversed casually as she removed her coat and bag.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make dinner today. I know you have to work hard."

"That's understandable, there's no problem in taking a break for a wh-"

The man stopped speaking suddenly. Sensing this, Nagisa turned back to face the man with her face frowning curiously.

"What's that?!" His voice lowered, stepping down the stairs towards his daughter. Nagisa tensed, shrugging self consciously.

"What's what dad?"

"On your neck?"

Her heart sank to her stomach. Gakushuu and Karma's lips and breath on her skin came jolting back to her, her fear making her queasy.

"I-I-"

His hand slipped under her jaw, tilting her up gently to get a better look, while Nagisa shut her eyes and tried not to bite her lip and cower.

To her surprise, her dad slapped her back playfully. "A lovebite? Is that from a girl son?"  
She swallowed, nervously. Feeling no relief, only the strain of having to lie and pretend.

"A girl confessed to me in the library this afternoon."

The man whistled, though his smile shrank a little. "Who is this girl?"

"Just a girl called... Nakamura. I don't think there's much between us though."

The man nodded, saying how that was a shame. Nagisa her chance to slip halfway up the stairs, stopping at the call of her name though.

"Nagi, you didn't make up that you were studying did you?"

"No." She spoke too quickly, "No. She was actually studying with me... then after she-"

"That's fine. I have to go back to the office soon though, you'll be alright home alone won't you? There's food in the fridge or money for a take out if you want?"

The girl nodded her head, ending their conversation, locking herself behind the door to her bedroom.

She pulled her hair down over her shoulder and shed her clothes, lying down onto her bed in her boys boxer briefs and bra-less vest. There wasn't a single dress or skirt in her cupboard, not a single t-shirt designed to fit her figure or a single item with a polka dot or flower or a spot of pink either. On her desk, there were no perfumes, no earrings, no hair ties or ribbons or pretty fairy lights like she had seen in her friends' bedrooms'.

She herself didn't hate this, but if someone from her school were to see, she could only guess what they would say. Nagisa was weird. She was different.

After a while, she heard a gentle knocking on her door. She could have sworn she had heard her dad leave the house, but she guessed she had been wrong.

She pulled her hair up quickly, only having time to answer the door in a pair of baggy trousers and her vest.

Her head tilted, seeing her father there by her door looking at his watch. "I'm heading off. I must have forgotten my folder - ah here it is."

The man perched down in the room, taking his black folder from where it was half under the bed.

"You were working in my room?"

"No. I was looking around, just to make sure you weren't hiding anything strange." The handsome male smiled despite the obvious invasion of privacy and ruffled his _sons_ hair. Suddenly, Nagisa's weak, makeshift up-do came out, and her pretty pale blue hair tumbled down thickly around both of her shoulders.

The darker eyes of her father looked at her, and then seemed to turn completely black.

"This is why I said we should cut it. We don't want you looking like a girl now, do we? Everyone would laugh, look at you, it's just disgusting."

His hands tugged roughly, causing Nagisa to shut her eyes and cringe back. When his touch finally left, he had uttered his goodbye and slammed the door shut in her face. Her scalp hurt, and her hair had been tied much too roughly. She slipped over into the bathroom, finally allowing the sigh of discontent to escape her.

Standing in front of the mirror, she eased her hair down from its shackled confines gently. Before her own reflection, she realised the truth in her dad's words, the bite on her neck was a dark vivid colour, and despite only thinking she had one, she saw at least three dotted around in various different spots, low on her collar also.

Before, her father may have only seen the one on her neck, but seeing her in her vest like this, it was clear her story about the library had been either a lie or a great deal edited.

Nagisa's face looked said as she eyed the marks, her emotions only conveyed as much as the silent eyes of a glassy reflection should. To her boyfriend, lurking silently in the door, it told him everything.

She turned around, walking straight into something she knew for a fact wasn't there before. The blue haired girl's heart sped up like never before as warm arms encased her, and she feared she would be kidnapped and killed and tortured horribly all in the space of a second. Then as she gasped, she inhaled the familiar scent she knew to only belong to one person.

"Karma.." She sunk into his arms, not at all surprised that he had gotten in somehow. Not at all afraid. At this moment, all she could think about was how incredibly good it felt to be cradled by him like this.

Karma could only stare at how sweet the girl was with her hair down over her shoulders like this and her cheeks with the warm caress of an angel's touch against his chest.

When she pulled up, her eyes met him and then hardened. "I should slap you."

Her words held no true menace, nor did her eyes hold grudge.

"For lying about having made up with Gakushuu? Or for getting into a fight with him? Or for neglecting you in there while we fought?"

"For thinking it's okay for your best friend to touch all over me actually." She said bitterly, looking unimpressed as she put some distance between them.

At that moment, Gakushuu appeared in the doorway as well, "You found-"

His eyes landed on the girl, making her stop and realise self consciously how exposed her upper body was.

"...Nagisa..." He hummed, eyes scrutinising her dreamily. The fact that he actually stopped dead, seeming to forget about what he was saying was disturbing enough. His eyes lingering on her love bite was even more so.

Her hands fell from where they had been raised to tie her hair back up, thinking better of it, she added to her conversation.

"You brought him to my house? Y-You could have told me Karma."

"Sorry." He admitted, moving a few strands of her hair to cover her slim shoulders a bit better.

Gakushuu's throat was clearly dry judging from how hard he swallowed as she walked by him.

"How did you guys even get in, didn't my dad lock the door?"

"We came in through your window actually, but you weren't in there."

"What?!" She whispered, glaring at Karma who shot Gakushuu an even harder look for telling.

"That was my secret. Gakushuu." He hissed, "But since you know now, yes, I do come by through your window sometimes but don't worry, if you're changing I wait and if you're sleeping don't wake you."

Her jaw hung, unsure of how to react. Karma smirked, his golden eyes laughing, "Relax. I'm joking."

The pretty blunette became more comfortable, but her eyes looked weary and tired as she headed into her room.

"You should go. I'm tired."

"We came this way to apologise to you. We can leave afterwards."

Nagisa's expression betrayed how much she secretly wanted them to get it over with and leave.

"We just want you to know that thanks to you we've realised where we went wrong and thanks to you we've gotten above it. We also realise how much of a pair of idiots we are. I-I don't know about Karma, but I'm ashamed of myself for acting like that. I-Y-you just have this effect on me Nagi-"

"Gakushuu, it's fine. Really, we should just forget about it."

Her words made his stomach shake and a strange happiness floated about inside him like the air had become sweeter after she'd said his name. Honestly though, she was just couldn't handle him talking about _that._

"I'm glad." The boy blinked his purple eyes happily.

"Well then, you've spoken, she's thanked you, isn't it about time you left." Karma smirked, waving his hands away towards the door happily as if Gakushuu was a pest he could shoo away.

His head remained still, but his eyes flickered almost violently. Karma was already touching Nagisa's shoulder and gradually slipping his playful touches lower as they spoke, hiding beneath the safety of the unspoken excuse of fixing her hair.

Gakushuu had his nose turned up in disgust when he spoke, "Are you two going to have sex tonight?"

"G-Gakushuu!" Nagisa whined anxiously. He caught her eye, and is if remembering himself looked apologetic.

"I don't mean to offend you. I just find it a bit unfair that you get to have fun in Nagisa's bedroom while her father's out and expect me to somehow stand an equal chance as you."

He directed towards Karma, who smirked.

"You had your chance and you blew it. Besides, you didn't make Nagisa want you at all. She was angry at me for letting you come near her, I think if anything she's more repulsed by you now than before."

"Just stop both of you." Nagisa snapped before they could start a fight again, especially not in her home.  
"I-I never said that Gakushuu."

"But what you said was close, no?"

"How can you blame me, you didn't even ask me if I wanted it. I never consented yet the both of you thought it was okay to kiss me and to-to ruin my neck which my dad saw by the way. Y-You," She paused, breathing in to compose herself, reminding herself that this was her house and that she was the one in charge here - with her dad gone at least.

"I'm sorry Gakushuu, as lovely of a friend you are, I just don't think of you in that way. It's Karma I'm in love with, I know you can respect that."

The feeling of swallowing a whole brick was similar to what Gakushuu felt now, it weighed against the bottom of his stomach, his best friend's triumphant look adding to the heap by throwing pebbles.

"You finally heard the truth. Well then, you can leave now." He taunted.

He felt spotlighted by both of their eyes on him. He felt pathetic and stupid for even showing his face here.

"I-I can show you out if you li-"

"It's fine."

Gakushuu turned, unable to look at the couple sitting naturally beside each other, unable to escape from Nagisa's voice expressing her love for another.

He didn't realise he had slammed the door until the sound of the impact hit his ears, allowing the black to sink from his eyes and let him see clearly again now that he was outside.

His breath hitched in harshly, and he realised from the contrasting cold on his cheekbones that he was crying. Not out of sadness, but anger.

Resent for Karma, and somehow, the smallest bit of hatred for Nagisa too.


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: Explicit content in this chapter! Please don't read if this will make you uncomfortable.**

* * *

Chapter Seven

"Out of curiosity, why did you tell him we hadn't had sex?"

Nagisa's blue eyes widened in embarrassment, "He told you then... I guess I was just trying to lessen his interest in me, I thought he maybe had the impression I was secretly someone more exciting and sexual so I tried to make out that I'm more average." She struggled to explain without trying to sound like such a liar.

"Do you feel guilty?" Karma whispered into his girlfriends ear. Her pale shoulders had flinched at the slam of her door.

She reacted silently, leaning into him, putting their foreheads together. Karma's hands curled around her warmly.

"He'll forgive us eventually." He comforted. "For now, you can take it out on me Nagisa." He purred, "Your dad's away, it's been a while since we've been in your room."

She closed her eyes, suddenly shoving her boyfriend down by the shoulders until he was flat enough for her to lean over him, pressing their lips together, blocking out Karma's expression as he smirked triumphantly.

* * *

All the kissing in the world couldn't hide Nagisa's guilt when she sat beside Gakushuu's empty seat the next day.

To make matters worse, Karma spent most of the day wondering the corridors aimlessly. Because of this, Nagisa wore a dreary unguarded expression that exposed her sadness.

Her friends cheered her up, but the second they and Karma were gone, her smile would drop. She walked the remainder home so painfully slow people on the streets started staring. But she didn't want to go home either, not to face her dad and act tough and unaffected.

Nagisa wasn't far from home now. She passed her usual short cut to walk through the block of estates near her house. The sun was going down by now and this wasn't a safe place to be in the dark. But despite this, the cold winter air had everyone locked away in their homes. If there were anyone else anywhere near her, they would be painfully obvious to her sights.

Her eyes settled on the orange tinted pavement, noticing the shadow of someone not far behind her. Someone really close.

She turned back in surprise, frowning and ready to question why someone would choose to stand so awkwardly close. But nobody was there.

This is when she new something was wrong. She turned a full three-hundred and sixy degrees, hearing the wind rush behind her but still seeing no movement other than the minuscule shaking of trees.

The blue haired girl was still far from the end of the dangerous area, the sun was still going down, in various directions around her, it remained clear that there were no witnesses if something were to happen to her.

"Dad," She spoke so quickly it surprised her, her voice sounding unrestrained and feminine on the phone as she held the item to her ear.

"Nagi? What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing." She sighed in relief, "You're home right?"

There was a pause.  
"No, actually. A few colleagues have invited me to dinner, it might be a while for I make it back."

"That's fine, no problem. Could I just ask that you stay on the phone to me until I get home?"

He breathed in, "You didn't get into a fight did you?"

"No." She explained, opening her mouth to continue but not getting far.

"Then you can walk home by yourself. You're not a child, Nagisa. It's five in the afternoon. I don't know who you're trying to impress but honestly it's a bit sad that it's me you're calling."

Her grip on her phone loosened, her low self esteem today weakening even more at the attitude of her parent. Why had she even hoped he would be this way? It was like this every time she tried to depend on him.

"Y-you're right. I'm basically home anyway. Have fun!" She mused, hanging up without hearing his last word.

Her head shot up sharply. Like before, there was nobody around her. She must have been paranoid, that was all it could be. Her house was even in view by now. She was basically home.

The girl looked down to retrieve her keys. Before she could see her bag though, something else reached her sight. A hand was rushing up towards her face, the weight of a body was throwing itself against her, knocking her senses dizzy and silencing her loud cry. Before she could even kick into what she knew of self defence, her world was sent spinning into gravity as she was thrown back into a van, the doors slammed shut before her eyes by the grasp of a man she had never seen before in her life, sent into the arms of more strange men with more strange, painful grips over her body...

* * *

"Two thousand each," the voice breathed from the speaker, "Leave the girl by the garage and it will be in the post box on your way out."

The men nodded to each other, placing down the girl's unconscious body against the door with uncharacteristic care. Her head tilted down lifelessly, her coat buttons open and cheek bruised into a very faint pink.

When her kidnapper discovered her his breath had hitched into his throat like he ad just discovered treasure. A photo was snapped. When he lifted her up in his arms and slowly walked her down the stairs to his basement, his face was flushed red with the thrill of being close to her, of hearing her soft, barely audible breaths and watching her chest rise and fall as he stripped her of her outdoor clothing, then with a second glance, of her indoor clothing as well.

There were others upstairs, but he was certain they wouldn't bother them. His mother was in her office. He doubted she would bother him either.

If they knew what he was doing, he didn't doubt that he would be cut from his school in an instant and sent to a military school where he wouldn't lay eyes on another girl until his early twenties.

But how could he focus on that now? Nagisa was with him.

Nagisa was laying vulnerably in his arms and her conniving boyfriend didn't have the slightest idea that she was.

He could do anything to her...

* * *

The knowledge that she was waking up was all Nagisa had for a moment. Assuming she had taken a nap, that it was the next day and that she was in her bed. Everything was natural. There was no fear. But, even though her eyes were open, she couldn't see a thing.

She raised her arm to remove what might have fallen over her eyes, aware that her vision should have adjusted by now. However, her arm was shocked to discover that something was stopping it from moving very far.

This was when the first wave of fear hit her. In most parts of her body, she couldn't move.

Her memories jolted back to her then. This is when the second wave of fear hit her. She had been shoved into the back of a van and knocked out. She had been so near to her house yet so far. Would that be the last time she would ever see her house?

Why had someone even kidnapped her? Sure the area was prone to shoplifting and vandalising and an occasional mugging, but kidnap was on a whole other level. The fact that they had been near her home... the fact that they had chosen an empty area other than one storming with other girls her age.

Her fear doubled in realisation that whoever it was had picked her intentionally. Maybe they were after her father? Maybe...Maybe...

She couldn't process anything else. She wouldn't allow herself as they were only making her more afraid and more helpless. The faint sounds beside her told her there was definitely someone there. She wished she could see. She hoped that this was all just a trick, that she was overthinking things.

"Karma?" The blunette managed to compose herself just enough to speak without sounding like a helpless kitten. Unbeknown to her, a hand had been a fraction away from adjoining her cheek. But it froze at her words, trembling while it found a voice to whisper.

 _"No."_

Had his voice not been so contorted with anger, had it not been so quiet and breathy, Nagisa might have recognised it.

She swallowed, her heart pounding so hard it altered her hearing.

"Karma... he's not here. But he doesn't need to be here. I can still make you feel good by myself Nagisa." He whispered hotly.

His breath shocked her, she moved away, but his hands found her navel. She realised it was bare, that she was in only her underwear. If her kidnapper had possessed the warmest touch in the world, she would have still shivered and jerked away as fervently as she did.

"W-Who are you?"

He didn't answer, she felt fingers sliding up over her ribs, leaving the tingle of a foreign unexpected touch to dance around her body freely.

"S-Stop it. Stop." the girl tried, raising her hips and twisting in her confines to escape from his touch, albeit exciting him more with her movements.

Suddenly they concluded. Warm hands closed around her hips, she trembled with the agitation of not knowing what was to come next.

"You think you don't want me. You think only Karma can make you feel good but you're wrong. I'll show you you're wrong, I promise you."

"No, you can't. It's more than just sexual, you can't just touch me and think I'll fall in love with you...Stop it before you make your situation even worse."

Cut of by fingers on her face, her breath hitched for about the tenth time in the last few minutes and she flinched to the side like she would be slapped. Although, no harm was done.

She blinked fearfully, realising that a dim light could enter her eyes, and above her-

"Gaksuhuu." She sighed. Though not out of relief.

She had been repressing the intuition screaming at her that it was him. It had been easy with him acting this way. Even now she could barely recognise him. He was close to her, his eyes hazy and inky with the nonsensical gleam in it that paralysed her, his hair a dark red, almost purple in the dim light.

She looked around, seeing herself lying on an old sort of bed in what looked like a storage room with boxes around them creating a wall and natural candles masking the faint fragrance of his familiarity.

"I want to see your beautiful eyes.." He whispered, stroking her eyelids way to closely for comfort.

"Show me your beautiful lips.." His eyes darted downwards, and Nagisa had the sudden urge to bite him. She couldn't however, upon realisation that the black sash used to blind her was now between her teeth and tight. He could kiss her lips, but thankfully there was no tongue.

She had hoped he would get bored, yet the boy was still above her several exchanges later, kissing her softly and almost sweetly like a child would savour his candy, repeating the action for more times than she could count.

Nagisa shuddered, shutting her eyes and turning away. She mumbled his name, sounding as pathetic as a dog on a leash. Having her eyes covered had been so horrible, but this was so much worse. Being able to see the evil but not being able to do anything about it, it was torture.

His fingers suddenly sparked back to life and slid under her vest with no time to react, attacking her as she passively cried out a scream that was swallowed contently by her attacker's intent lips.

Pinching away, making her arch, tremble, quiver and mumble out half pleasured hums of intoxication as her eyes became foggy and her muscles became tight and heavy.

"Try to keep it down Nagisa, my parents are upstairs, it will be embarrassing if we're caught."

Gakushuu's words confused the blunette. It made their situation sound so natural she should be too ashamed to scream for help, it left her thoughts in a muddle as she breathed out heavily, seeing moist lips smiling down at her admiringly in the soft orange light.

Then one hand slid down her to her thigh, grazing everything along the way until it reached her knee followed by the other leg. He pulled her thighs apart suddenly and leaned back to position himself between them, her ankles still tied together behind his back and strapped to the bed frame.

She knew she was blushing from the intimate position, but was also aware of herself uncontrollably throbbing at his lecherous gaze on her short navy panties.

Their eyes locked, then before she knew it, his hand reached out and curved down the decline of her body, fingers brushing her through her underwear deftly.

Even if she had been expecting it, she would have still moaned equally as loud, thrashing upwards and surprising herself at how dirty she could sound while she had her mouth covered and words stolen from her.

The strawberry blond haired male had pressed into her again before she could catch her breath, milking her for more throaty moans and agile twists. It was all the most entertaining show for him, his own genitals becoming flushed with arousal.

He couldn't wait much longer...

The wetness of her essence had coated both insides of the tips of her thighs, but her underwear was yet to be spoiled. He leaned down and encouraged this by licking the material, taking it into his mouth and sucking on it hard, his lips and tongue brushing her pink flesh to taste her forbidden fruit's juices several teasing times.

"G-Gakushuu please!"

He couldn't understand much from her words, but her eyes said it all.

He pulled away and smiled happily. Soon, her underwear had been pulled down to by her ankles, exposing her taint-able flesh to him showing all the enthusiasm he needed.

Running his finger down from her navel into her wet pool, looking into her blue eyes, he smiled dazzlingly, blushing madly with excitement and passion as he aligned their bodies.

Nagisa couldn't help but admit how much her body craved his touches, how her skin tingled with the idea of his length buried inside the clutches of her core. It was too bad her mind was screaming at her to be more against it. Maybe she was still high on whatever had been used to knock her unconscious... maybe that was why every touch felt exaggerated and why her head was gently spinning.  
He ran his thumb over her opening in a circular motion as if in thought.

"Karma has already done this to you..." She was sticky with cold sweat.

"But...here.." His finger moved down, spreading her moisture to another sensitive lower region,"I would be your first right?"

Nagisa's eyes widened. She had never done it there before. She had only had sex two or three times before in her life... she didn't even know if it would feel good.

But she didn't have a choice.

Her breath was knocked out of her as he entered her, suddenly and painfully like he was splitting her in to. She choked her breath back in, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes whilst trying to keep some form of resilience to the sharp stabbing pain.

"Ahh..." He groaned, tilting his head back. "You feel amazing Nagisa."

He had gone back to his husky whispering chilling her with how out of touch with reality he sounded.

"Don't worry, you-" he breathed in,"Stop tensing around me like that. Relax and it will get better, I'm waiting for you, tell me when you want it."

How could she admit to wanting him in this situation? She was so full she just wanted it to be over, but she relaxed anyway, soon discovering with small frictions made between them that it could get so much better.

"G-Gakushuu." She trembled, looking into his misty purple eyes.

She felt like her whole body was being fucked when he pumped into her continuously, and felt so deeply affected by him as he leaned down and kissed her anywhere he could reach simultaneously that she barely reacted to his ejaculation, still moaning as passionately and still seeing blurs of colours above her as her toes curled and her core spasmed.

Gaksushuu continued to pound her until his second climax, pulling out to find him dribbling from the protection she had failed to even see him put on.

The room was still glowing faintly, Gakushuu still breathing heavily and her body still flinching from tremors as her eyes closed in sleep on that bed.

While sleep claimed her, his lips continued to press into her, voice continued to whisper until he too passed out.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Nagisa woke to find that her kidnapper had the decency to put a blanket over her and untie her at least. Gakushuu was there now, sitting at the end of the bed with his head in his hands. She knew she should be more resentful, but she pitied the boy.

On the bright side, her head had finally cleared. On the down side, she was now fogged with not only the physical pain but the shame of her act as well.

The girl sat up slowly. She was no longer tied to the bed at least. He had pulled up her underwear, but other than that she was completely naked. Her clinging hands held her thin cover over her shoulders that were surprisingly clean of any teeth marks or love bites.

That was a first.

"N-Nagisa!" Gakushuu started from his sleep, looking at the girl's figure and becoming more like himself when he had the decency to look away, standing from the bed nervously.

"Your clothes are beside you. I-If you want to use the shower you should follow me - after you change of course."

Truthfully, her clothes were beside her, coat hung up over the storage boxes while everything else was folded neatly. There would be no games with that.

Above it, he even had her socks and the watch she had been wearing treated respectfully in a very much gentlemanly way.

In all honesty, if she could sit still and stay where she was, she would. But there was nothing pleasant about being in a dark room that constantly reminded her of something so disgusting.

Attempting to put her clothes on quickly, she stood, only to be shocked by the sudden jolt of pain from between her hips. "Mhm!" Gakushuu caught her quickly and their faces were brought close. She flinched away out of habit, causing a guilt stricken look of pain to appear in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry."

He was gone like that, disappearing out of the door and leaving her.

She hadn't expected it to be daytime once she left her temporary disconnection with the outside world. Only now did the severity of what had happened dawn on her.

"You can take the day off of school if you want. I-I think you should."

He shut the door behind him. For the first time, she was standing on the front path of the Asano's huge home. At first she was worried about neighbours, but it was clear now that they wouldn't be a problem.

"I can't. Karma will get suspicious."

It seemed like he hadn't thought things through either, because his eyes widened, and his teeth clenched. "Shit. You can't tell Karma about this."

His eyes met hers sternly. He wasn't usually so assertive, yet today she didn't seem to have a choice. Her eyes sunk from his, sick of being commanded by someone who was usually so polite. It was like her status to him had been lowered over night, like she had lost some worth.

"Why can't I?"

"You _want_ to tell him you cheated on him?" He accused. "What do you think he'll say, that he feels bad for you?"

"Gakushuu you dragged me off of the street into a-"

"That was the men I hired, not me." He said as if it were any better.

"You paid men money to take me to your house so you could tie me up and ra-"

"I'm sorry okay." His voice wavered. Before she could finish her sentence he had wrapped his arms around her and held their bodies close together in his arms. Nagisa tried to back away, feeling uncomfortable with his skin against hers, but as hard as she pushed, she wouldn't be released. He was holding tightly. He cradled her for a long time.

She knew she wouldn't have been able to admit it out loud anyway.

"Nagisa, I'm so sorry. It felt amazing for me, but it hurt you, I let myself get carried away...again."

"Stop it. It didn't hurt, not physically anyway." She spoke softly, her hands slipping down so they were at her sides. "I won't tell Karma and you won't tell anyone about this."

"Are we going to act like it never happened?" The fact that he sounded shocked was irritating her.

"What's the alternative?"

"No...you're right." He pulled away,"The next time I won't make the same mistake. I'll have been there before so I won't lose control."

Her eyes scanned his face for some clue that he was joking, some possible room for him to explain that his words hadn't sounded like what he had truly meant. There was nothing.

"There won't be a next time!" She exclaimed, pulling herself away from him. His shock and confusion as if he were innocent angered her. "Don't you understand what you did to me Gakushuu?" Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. "I thought... I never thought you would do something like that..."

He took a step towards her, she skidded back. "If you touch me again I'll tell someone worse than Karma - if I so much as think you might be a threat to me I'll-"

Her voice cut off, eyes shielding in that enigma of thoughts that mad Nagisa so special.

"Nagisa-"

"Forget it. I'm going back to mine before I go to school. You go in so they don't think it's suspicious."

He nodded obediently, following her and closing up his front gates before they left in separate directions.

* * *

The house was cold when Nagisa stepped into it. Seeing her home in the broad daylight somehow felt bitter sweet - she had a feeling she would remember that walk, especially when her fear that she would never see her home again yesterday had been so real.

She felt like she had an obligation to be nostalgic and upset, yet upon arriving, not a single tear came even close to slipping from her eyes. Why would it? She was safe. She was in one piece. Nothing that bad had really happened. She didn't have reason to cry and be upset.

"Dad?" She called out but there wasn't a response. Although, that was to be expected in the late morning. Usually, this would mean for Nagisa that he would be away and she would have the home to herself, however instinct reminded her that he had been out late last night. She wondered briefly if he had spent the night out; if the colleagues he had mentioned were in truth, a _woman_ he had been seeing.

That was the last thing she needed in her life right now, a woman coming into her life claiming to be her mother. Forcing reasons to forget her own biological parent who had fought hard until every last penny left from the divorce was spent trying to get custody down Nagisa's throat, as if being told she wasn't good enough as a girl wasn't enough.

Her momentary concern died down at the sight of her father lying soundly in his own bed. There was no sign of alcohol or struggle or clumsiness in him as he lay in his bed, half below his covers. From this angle, she could easily see his relaxed expression.

Why would he be stressed? It wasn't like his only child had called him sounded panicked last night? It wasn't like he had returned from whatever business to find his home cold and empty and without the teen that he should care for enough to at least try and call her.

 _Nagi could look after himself. Nagi was strong._

Thats what he would say.

Maybe for Nagisa, some tears might have fallen, but with the hot water of the shower so scorching over _Nagi's_ body, how could his mind have time for tears?

* * *

She could feel the eyes on her as she entered the class and handed in her late slip. The strongest pair she felt without a doubt belonged to Gakushuu. Instinctively, her gaze turned to Karma's seat. He wasn't there.

Her stomach sank, but nobody could have guessed that at the sight of the dreamy girl with the silent steps slipped into her seat and entered her own mysterious world.

The strawberry blond was sweating without a reason that lesson. His mouth opened several times to speak, but feared for the unknown punishment of provoking Nagisa.

Gakushuu had probably taken more secretive glances in her direction that lesson alone than he had in any other lesson of the school year so far. He had something to tell her, something he had to say as a warning before it was too late, but every time he opened his mouth, he would either freeze up or their teacher would almost knowingly squint in his direction, silencing him.

The fair blunette would often tilt her head away in thought, whether she was daydreaming, debating the mysteries of life or plotting to kill them all, nobody knew. Eventually, when Karma walked into the classroom, his eyes found the girl in the corner like a hawk.

He wasn't pleased by what he saw. She would always look towards the sky or out of the window as she sat in class. If they were on the pavement, she would look out towards the road. Likewise, if they were on a bus, she would look out to the sky. Towards a source of light, or a wider space, or a brighter atmosphere.

Today she looked at the ground below her.

Someone might have said something to her, but everyone was focused on the class. Her thoughts might have been upsetting her, but what would he be thinking of to affect her so deeply? He placed what he had been asked to collect down on the teacher's desk, mind still questioning.

Now that he was a bit closer, Gakushuu was looking down as well, though his eyes seemed to be intentionally avoiding his, he was too aware of Karma's presence. He made it obvious that he was hiding something. He looked guilty.

One thought came into Karma's mind, _should have known it was to do with him._

"Nagisa, I thought you weren't in today."

Her head jerked up. When their eyes met, he could have sworn her saw those blue eyes waver as if they hid an ocean.

She nodded submissively, "I woke up late."

"You guys can speak at lunch instead of interrupting everyone's lesson." The teacher scowled, but Karma was still standing. His eyes were so focused on Nagisa, even their teacher felt awkward.

"I think I should change my seat. Gakushuu, you don't mind swapping do you?"

The boy tried not to flinch, expecting a threat but finding that his friend's words held no conspiracy.

"Karma, you don't just walk in and decide-"

"Don't you think it's better to have me at the front where you can keep an eye on me?" He snickered, "Gakushuu won't cause any trouble back there. Will you?"

The woman at the front sighed, "At least be quick about it then."

A cold seemed to leave, replaced by the warmth that radiated from Karma as he took his seat comfortably beside her. Suddenly, her heart could beat again without tensing up, her chest could rise and sink calmly, and her blue eyes looked up at the ceiling despite the fact that her head was tilted in his direction.

He knew he'd had some sort of victory, as small as it was.

Nagisa could have easily blushed and claimed she hadn't wanted the attention, but inside, what Karma had done (as embarrassing as it was) seemed to help her in a way she couldn't describe.

Still though, she flinched when his hands slid down her neck. "Nagisa, I'm talking to you."

"O-Oh. Sorry." She turned to face him, her eyes looking to anyone like they were too innocent to be hiding a single thing. But Karma knew better.

"Are you sure you woke up at all today?"

She bit her lip puzzled, "I'm sure."

It only just occurred to him that she had done that as a test. He smiled, "Let me try and wake you up."

Their class was still full of people when he leaned in to kiss her, then again when hadn't they kissed without an audience? Her heart-rate picked up and her head tilted, her eyes shut and her cheeks darkened to a shy pink.

But right before they could - she could see Gakushuu. Her eyes were shut, she was sure of it. Yet there he was leering down at her like he was disgusted and disappointed, like an animal that had claimed her as his property. It was like he had somehow shackled himself to her.

She jerked back so hard she nearly hit her head. The girl feared kissing her own boyfriend as the guilt of her own filthiness weighted down on her, allowing his him to coil her hair around his finger as his lips closed in with no regard to her turmoils.

But she didn't want to kiss him...

Nagisa gasped as he bit down on her lip, pulling away without so much as a peck to sooth the cut. Looking down at her offended face without a trace of guilt, he smirked.

"So you are awake." The red head concluded.

It wasn't long before she realised that was his intention all along. She glared at him, putting on a falsely sad face and accused him of being mean before they laughed it off.

* * *

Nagisa had been reading that evening. She put her comic down however when her mind stepped onto a dark path.

The protagonist's father was a lot like her own boyfriend. The playful, caring, overprotective type. She'd like to have said minus the violence, but the character of the book happened to share that in common with Karma too.

He had never hit his daughter. But he had forced her to wear things, to talk only to certain people, to go out only at certain times and had practically kept her on a leash her whole life, only he had the capability to see through his actions and feel guilt. If he could sincerely apologise, why couldn't Karma?

This behaviour was labelled as abuse in her book. Although, she didn't hate the way Karma treated her... not anymore anyway.

Had she come to accept his behaviour?

Now that she thought about this, it wore a striking similarity to her own father, who again, never hit her but managed to find other ways to make her feel... worthless. That was upsetting at most, sometime annoying and other times unsettling, it never depressed her and never turned her into a vengeful superhero for certain.

But then, if that was abuse, what was the opposite? Why did she struggle to imagine a story-book like character that treated a girl perfectly? Thinking to herself, why can't he be more like... only to struggle when she couldn't find anyone had lead her down this path. What was a perfect guy?

That didn't exist and that was normal. Reality was full of people who manipulated and forced her movements and thoughts, raising their voices over hers... but if reality was so harsh why were there so many wishful stories of princes and gentlemen who respected girls and paid for their meals and made them smile without touching them?

These people did exist, so why weren't they inclusive to her life? She couldn't recall a single positive male role model in her life, and it wasn't just that all the people had hurt her several times, it was that they saw her pain and continued to enforce it as if covering her body with small cuts and cracks before filling those cracks with timed explosives only to wait it out and watch to see when they would eventually destroy her.

Her breath hitched in, shocking her. Her cheeks were cold. She was crying.  
"But why..?" That was the question, why did she have reason to cry her eyes out when she should be nothing but happy that she had narrowly avoided a terrible situation? Why was she acting sad and ungrateful of the amazing friends she did have?

Gakushu... he'd protected her, he'd made her smile and lent her his jacket in the cold and walked her home in the dark when Karma had damaged her clothes. He was the kind of person that spoke up for her even when he was afraid and let his own friendships fall on the line just to make her happy. Just to fill her with the idea that he cared.

But he had raped her. That was reality. That was his betrayal.

He was the worst out of them, her could her mind possibly even consider that he might be a positive male role model-

Suddenly it hit her. She had been raped. She had been raped and kidnapped and yet here she was sitting quietly in her bedroom without telling anyone. She was fully prepared to role over and take it like a trained circus pet because... _there were a lot of things wrong with her life she didn't tell to anyone._

Nagisa wasn't living normally. A lot of people would look at her like a victim, like her life was a poorly written story made to entertain those who were mentally twisted. Her life was wrong and it would only get worse.

Why her? Why did she deserve this? Why did she attract the worst kind of man?

It was her fault for not telling anyone.

But how could she?

Despite everything, she love her father, she loved Karma, she loved Ga-

Or maybe she didn't. Maybe these people knew how to manipulate her thoughts so she would be too weak to defend herself when they did the horrible things to her they had intended all along. Was that why it felt so natural to accept this, because she had been raised to give up without a fight?

The people she loved loved to make her hate herself. They had raised her to accept this so they could continue reducing her to an empty, quiet and lonely shell while she lacked the strength to escape this cycle.

Before the pale, silently crying girl even knew it, her bare feet had landed onto the cold tile of the bathroom floor, standing for several seconds before her gaze finally found the mirror. When had she even started moving? When had her eyes dried? When had she found herself standing in the bathroom holding a fist full of pills and looking down dully like a lifeless doll?

Three seconds of consciousness passed.

Then suddenly she screamed. She screamed like her reflection would attack her, jumping back and throwing the assorted drugs down into the drain so hard they clattered. Her legs were trembling, but not nearly as much as her soul felt like it was.

In the back of her mind, her favourite song played, her friends laughed over it, and the sun arose over the sky somehow simultaneous to the shooting stars that she had loved to look at from her window as a kid. Her favourite foods lingered in her mouth and her lips trembled with the memory of many kisses, her favourite trips and places in the past left her insides content yet craving to return, the anticipation of the release of her favourite comics, movies, games and even school lessons replayed until her head sunk, leaving her to look down at her short, skinny body in disappointment.

What had she been thinking? How could she possibly have been so close to giving in to her weakness and letting it crush her. How could she nearly have let the people who had tried to break her succeed. They would only move on to another helpless victim.

"Nagi?" Her dad frowned, somehow behind her, at the top of the stairs and looking right at her. She hadn't heard the door open or even heard him come up them.

That name made her head ring.

"What are you doing?" The tall man's eyes landed on her pink stained cheeks, he stopped forward, brushing his thumb against the skin as though trying to erase the mark. "Don't tell me you've been cryin-"

"Shut up!" Her hand silenced him, her slap sharp enough to smear red onto him in seconds. His head tilted to the side, both eyes widened in shock.

"So what if I'm crying? You're the reason you delusional bastard who doesn't have the slightest clue how to raise his daughter."

He was speechless. His daughter..?

He had never seen his child act this way, never had they screamed and been so disobedient.

"Do you know what it's like to grow up dealing with you! Do you know that you taught me to love and respect abusers who violate my h-human rights while I was moulded into a vulnerable d-dummy w-who w-won't even complain at...!"

It reached a point where she couldn't speak anymore. She was sobbing to loudly, her head falling down into her shoulders as tears dropped from her slender chin to the floor like raindrops. More and more choked cries emerged like a tidal wave, unconsciously tipping her body forward into her father's concerned and unconfident embrace.

His eyebrows furrowed together, holding her head to his chest.

"Nagisa..."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Nagisa didn't look right. Not just to Karma and Gakushuu. Nearly everyone could tell something was wrong. Even when she laughed and smiled, the greyness in her bright blue eyes was visible.

What was worse was that for once, her boyfriend was unsure on what to do with her. He had taken her out and brought her things and showered her with kisses, and when that had stopped working he had tried just talking to her. Karma had even stopped his forceful touches to her. It always ended in the same way though. Just when he would think he had gotten somewhere with uncovering some small issue she had agreed to, she would smile and kiss him lightly and thank him for cheering her up, making it painfully clear to him that nothing had been changed - that he had barely scratched her suddenly so powerful and protective surface.

Unbearably, after hearing her speak, her dissatisfaction would become less obvious, planting doubts in him that she was even upset at all. In fact most of the time he wouldn't notice her distance until he asked her something personal and she tensed up.

Where had this come from so suddenly?

"Nagisa-"

"We're going out again today?" She had a small knowing smile playing on her lips. However, this assured no comforts.

"Yes. To the arcade today. Are you excited?"

Her eyes didn't meet his, but her teeth grazed her lip, "I-I don't know if I have the money actually."

"I'm paying," He tutted, "Besides, you'll pay me back just by being with me, won't you?"

Her eyes shook as she nodded. The expression could easily be compared to fear. The redhead was unsure of how much more of this he could take.

"As long as you promise not to spend any more than twenty?"

"Does food count?"

"I guess not."

"Then I promise." His eyes scrutinised her over head to toe once again, this time taking several seconds as she was talking with him. When it was her and someone else his looks took minutes. When it was just her in class, it of course lasted hours until he could look away. Even after that he wasn't completely satisfied.

"I'll see you in class."

Nagisa took the hint and left him. When she found herself at the doors of the main building, she turned back, and with his hands in his pockets, he was still there, still staring.

She sighed.

"Nagisa!"

Gakushuu's purple eyes were way too close, his voice way too loud and sudden to the point that her surprise sent her back a few steps, but not nearly far as the she would have liked. The feel of his hands around her clothed shoulders only made this worse, tensed visually, eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"What did I say about touching me."

The girl's body slipped away from his otherwise strong grasp with the lack of effort that came from dealing with dating someone full of surprise imprisonments like this. Though his intentions of restraining her didn't go unnoticed and she felt her resentment towards him growing in suspicion.

But of course, that slipped away when she had enough distance between them to fully see his face. Her heart melted at the pain, concern, care and guilt all over his features, weakening the hatred she felt in her stomach until it was nearly nonexistent.

He didn't do anything to chase her, he just waited for her to slip through his fingers without forcing her, something she was so unused to she actually felt nervous when she realised it was her responsibility to instigate their conversation.

"You don't have anything to say?"

She stepped closer, it took her a lot of nerve to do so, but she knew without needing convincing that he wouldn't harm her. Not when Karma was most likely watching them anyway.

He clearly didn't know what to do with his hands, frowning and pressing them into his thighs. "We need to talk."

"I'm asking you to talk right now."

"I think we should be able to more personally." He looked over both shoulders, he wouldn't see Karma but the latter could definitely see him.

Nagisa didn't look entertained, she followed him to a quiet part of the hallway regardless.

"Nagisa," He repeated, looking at her in endearment. "You're not happy with Karma are you?"

Her face fell. The blunette didn't even have the time to answer.

"I can see it in your face, I've seen how he can treat you badly in class so I can only assume he's even worse behind closed doors. You don't need that in your life. I'm sorry Nagisa but for you... i-if you stay with that guy any longer you won't be the same person anymore. I can already see the draining effect it's had on you..." His eyes were becoming hazy.

It was about this point that Nagisa realised her mistake, shrinking back and blocking out his words, all too able to tell where this was going.

"...I would never do that to you. I would make sure you're happy. Can't you give me another chance?"

Unfortunately, this was more than just him trying to worm his way back into her life. She had already earnestly told him of her love for Karma, that Gakushuu should have no hope in them being together, yet here he was looking at her so convinced of himself she almost felt guilty in turning him down. It was like he had forced himself to forget that night.

Her voice was dry when her mouth opened. His eyes glimmered with hope.

Crushing him with her words clearly wasn't working. Why couldn't there be another way.

"You're delusional. Karma and I are happy together. I know this upsets you but you're gonna have to respect that."

His hand found her shoulder before she could escape. The touch held neither force nor threat, gently there as if to comfort her, recapturing her attention to him.

"That's just the thing. You don't know what it's like to be in a positive relationship, I fear that you're the one who's delusional, Nagisa. When you're with me it will be clear that he's been exploiting you." He spoke gently.

Her breath hitched. Only half because he was right. The boy had a manipulative, self righteous, self empowering gleam in his eyes as he spoke that was revolting enough to make her slap his hand off of her.

"No Gakushuu. You're delusional if you can't see that it's your actions that have made me feel like my whole world has been dipped in depressing grey paint since you did what you did. Do you need more? You're the one who exploited my trust, remember? You're the one who decided what I wanted didn't matter, you're the one who made me unhappy and you're the one who I just want to stay away from."

As venomous as she thought she had been, the image of a sweet little blue haired girl in ponytails wasn't one she could escape. The world just loved to distort its view of her. Instead of the realisation and understanding she had wanted to see, she was met with the same disappointed pitying look down on the poor, gullible girl before him.

If Nagisa hadn't forced herself to disappear at that moment by merging into a crowd, Gakushuu would have been the one to go missing.

"Right there between the trees! Shoot it!"

Karma's body pressed into her, numbing her fingers before she could even process his words. Her heart burned with the anxiety. Where would he choose to violate her this time?

But his hands only guided the plastic gun in her grasp, taking aim and planting a bullet accurately into the brain of their assassination target, filling up her screen with virtual coins.

"Daydreamy," He accused as he tugged on her cheek, keeping her between his arms as he placed down the weapon and collected their ticket prize. "I'm telling you they'll kill you if you don't kill them first."

She could hear the affection in his voice, hardly capable of suppressing a grateful smile.

"That's just sad," A voice scoffed, "All over each other in an arcade... some people are just disgusting"

"They have no shame. Maybe they like the attention?"

Nagisa was used to it by now, her smile didn't fade but Karma whispered to her anyway. "We do like the attention don't we? It's clear they're just admiring you."

She stiffened. That was something someone exploiting her would say...

She tried to put some distance between them, trying to speak. They only parted in time to gasp as Karma tilted her back to kiss her cheek show-off-ishly, making her giggle.

"I'm so glad I have a pretty girl like you in my life~" He cooed loudly.

All three of the teens that had just passed gagged, but not a single one of the scrawny boys could take their eyes away.

"They have low self esteem that's for sure. Maybe their parents don't approve, that's why they have to act like that here."

That last remark had gotten Karma's attention. He scowled, pulling his girlfriend up, his eyes darkened.

"Those kids.." He glowered.

Nagisa smiled, straightening the collar of his school shirt. "You want to destroy them in every game they play?" She suggested innocently.

He grinned back maniacally, "Why do you get me so well?" He cooed before pulling her into the darkness to follow the trio.

The day had won them two iced slushes, a boat of chips and a pair of identical victory rings you could have gotten attached to a girls magazine. (Not to mention the emotional enjoyment of taking on a group of nerds that considered themselves kings here in the arcade only to destroy them in nearly every game).

They both wore their prizes proudly on their wedding finger regardless. Nagisa felt cheered up enough to laugh several times, wearing a natural smile as they walked home. But as usual, there was something off about her, something she was hiding.

Karma wanted to do nothing more than watch her face, then to kiss her lips and hear her speak, laugh and scream. He couldn't do that if she insisted on hiding things.

"Nagisa," She met his gaze innocently. It seemed she had forgotten her problems for now. He knew this was horrible of him, but he was about to say something really personal, something he knew would likely end her bliss and shove her tensions back into her face almost violently.

"I love you."

Her boyfriend had said it before. He had met her eyes as he had said it. But he had never looked so serious or sincere. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't focused on eliciting a reaction from her, he wasn't even darkened or hazy in the eyes. The words had come honestly from himself.

She froze, looking up at him unconscious of her vivid blush, of the fact that she seemed to have forgotten how to breathe or even of the fact that her vision was become less and less clear as she repeated the words back to him.

"I love you too Karma."

Tears spilled from her eyes, but she acted like she hadn't noticed, looking away, neglecting their existence and refusing to even blink them away or wipe away the pail stains against her cheek's pink. Her hair covered her eyes, but that was her natural reaction to hide her blush. The redhead wondered if she had even noticed she was crying, but soon found that it was obvious her reaction was subconscious. Maybe whatever she was hiding was being hidden from herself as well? Just what awful thing had dared to hurt his Nagisa so badly?

Karma slipped his hand over her cheek to remove the salt water for her.

His doubts had been confirmed. Though now he feared her secret may be worse than it had seemed.

"Nagisa..."

Her eyes met his, not having the time to register how close his fist was, how far back her body had been pushed, how hard his thumb pressed into her throat or how painfully the impact of the wall behind her was until she had released the breath taken before he started this.

Incidentally, her mind rushed back to what Gakushuu had done to her; being pulled back into darkness by foreign hands, being forced into a sleep when you knew you had to stay awake fearing that your life was on the risk, waking up groggily to a foreign home to be assaulted by a familiar face...it couldn't happen again.

They had been on this very road where she unfortunately had to live when it had happened, not far from her own home at all, even closer in fact than they were now.

"We've had this conversation before. Don't tell me what I already know. Answer me this time Nagisa, why are you acting this way?"

Now he was stooping so low as to threaten her? Karma knew he really was getting desperate, but he couldn't have her acting like this. The girl's eyes were pressed shut, open fear on her face that he hadn't seen in years. Since before she knew him, back when things between them were new and frightening to her. Why was she afraid of him? Was he the problem?

He loosened his grip the slightest bit. But then some of that fear transferred to him, making him release his touch all together.

"You're not pregnant are you?"

"No!" Nagisa's eyes snapped open.

The pair had never had sex without protection...

Karma's fist obstructed the wall beside her hot-temperedly. "Then what the hell is wrong with you?"

He hadn't meant to shout, but that was how it came out.

Nagisa didn't flinch though. "I'm moving away."

The redhead's mind took several moments to understand that, yet his response seemed to come to his lips naturally.

"No you're not."

"I am." Her voice was quiet, "My dad thinks I need to spend some time with my mother. He's worried about me."

"Then you show him there's nothing to be worried about."

She laughed lightly, Karma had taken hold of both of her hands, "I think it's a bit late for that now. I've already given him more than enough evidence that I don't want to be with him."

"Did you have a fight?"

Her expression was awkward and evasive, "More like I had a fight with him while he looked unsure. I told him I hated him... and forced him to accept that I'm a girl."

"Forced him how?"

She looked down guiltily, "By throwing a tantrum."

Karma would have been entertained had he not been faced with an opposing issue.

"It's backfired now, he'll barely look at me, let alone listen to why I should stay with him. I have the feeling he's kind of given up on whatever hopes he may have had for me."

"Well then," His hands curved around her face, bringing her eyes to him,"It's easy. You come and live with me."

Nagisa sighed into his embrace, "I really doubt that's possible."

"My parents like you, I like you, we have a spare room and I have the money to feed you and clothe you."

"You would never have to do that, both my parents pay support for me-"

"All the more reason to be together."

"Karma, we have to be realistic... I want to get my hopes up, I want to live in a fantasy, but the truth is I'm moving away in a few weeks and when I do, we'll be hours on a train apart. I love you.." She repeated downheartedly, "But I don't think we're going to work like this-"

"You're not breaking up with me you idiot, there's no way."

Karma kissed her, their lips melting silently and without complaint, Nagisa returning her kiss just as sadly and eagerly. Her hands found his neck, his hands found her hair and his knees brushed against hers.

The light rain painted everything a shade darker against the blindingly bright evening sun. It was only several numb, thoughtless kisses later that they were pulled apart.

"Nagisa...Karma." Her father's voice was dry with disapproval and faint disgust. They were hidden from public view, but he happened to be unfortunate enough to look a bit closer at the low teens and realise that he knew one, before realising that the other was his own child.

"Ah...s-sorry." Her pretty blue head hung, and that was all their greeting, speaking miles to Karma about their tension. He rolled his eyes.

"Mr shiota," He grinned like a cat, "I thought it was about time for me to be introduced as not just Nagisa's friend."

The man's eyes lingered on Karma rather than his own offspring, his eyebrows setting sternly as he nodded. "I think you'd better come in Karma."

He sighed eventually.

Nagisa bit her lip nervously when Karma shot her one of his scheming expressions, before turning back to follow her father over to their familiar home.

"I agree. I was planning on having a talk with you eventually."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

If there was ever a moment where Nagisa was on edge, it was now. Her father was very much aware of Karma's personality and all of it's quirks, and Karma was aware of the man's knowledge of this himself.

Which meant that when he intentionally made himself harder to read, closing off his actions from interpretation as he sat on the couch beside her, while her father settled on an armchair, he was doing it to hide something nefarious.

The boy was either really and truthfully just trying to convince her father with words, or he was making it less obvious what he was planning so when he did do it, the others would be taken by surprise. Knowing Karma, one was highly more likely that the other.

"Thanks for the drinks, thanks for the hospitality, but I'll cut straight to it. Nagisa doesn't want to leave so you have no right to make her."

The man took in a deep breath, his voice calm as he spoke. "I thought you would have this kind of reaction, which is exactly why I requested you keep it a secret."

His eyes flickered over to his daughter, lingering just long enough for her to notice his silence and see a glimpse of his glare, dragging away as soon as he knew he'd had her attention.

"But as a matter of fact, I'm Nagi's father - not you - and I'm responsible for deciding what's best for him."

"Then as her father surely you can see how much leaving has been upsetting her. Or is that just the kind of father you want your daughter to see you as?"

Nagisa wanted to speak, but was stumped for words. What was the point in fighting to stay with someone who didn't want to stay with you? Someone who treated you badly and depressed you because of that? At this moment she could only cringe back in her seat.

"If you're really as close to Nagi as you consider yourself to be, it should be clear that the source of his problems came from long before we spoke about leaving." He stated, looking half bored.

"So who exactly are you trying to put the blame on here?" Karma kept his voice steady, but his eyes were narrowed.

"I understand that I'm the one who's at fault. Don't think you can emotionally blackmail me with that. Though, accepting that I've become a person Nagi doesn't like, I don't understand why it is you would want your friend to stay here so badly with someone who clearly makes him sick."

"Dad, you don't make me sick. I never said tha-"

Instinctively she had put on the voice of a lie to speak to him, he caught her eye, picking up on the fact that she had to change herself to feel comfortable to speak him, and his expression spoke all that needed to be spoken, silencing her.

"Seriously?" Karma scoffed,"She's your daughter and you're going to throw her away over one fight?"

"Would you prefer I remain with him and force him to be something he's not?"

The way he persistently spoke in that dismissive, unentertained and incapable of being convinced way because nobody could give a valid counter opposing the one conceived by his flawless mind was beginning to take affect.

"I would prefer you accept your beautiful daughter for who she is and don't tempt her into changing that. It wouldn't be hard for you to acknowledge her as a girl if you weren't so caught up in your own personal problems."

His voice was low and almost husky like a grown man's.

Nagisa's father cleared his throat, removing his reading glasses and slipping them onto his shirt pocket.

"Well Nagisa will be free to fall as low as she like once she's back with her mother away from me, so I don't see the problem."

At seeing his hand tightening around his thigh, Nagisa sat up abruptly and met his eyes, seeming to communicate silently to each other before the redhead's shoulders slipped down and his tension released a bit.

"That's still forcing your actions on her old man." Karma stood as Nagisa's father raised his eyebrow.

"So you've given up."

He put down his coffee, reaching for a newspaper only to stop when he saw that the redheaded boy's hand had interlocked with the hand of his child, both of their bodies turned towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"We-"

"Since you want her away from you so badly I'll take her away from you. Don't worry, you'll never get the chance to see her face again." Karma spoke mockingly.

"You mean you're off to make out in another alleyway? You're right, I wouldn't want to see that."

"Karma!"

The man's glass had been smashed. He didn't see anything. Only feeling the slowly returning pang of cut skin for a long time as his vision returned to him. Hot water seeped into his clothing, staining the expensive carpet below his feet.

When his brain managed to finally tell him to look up, he saw the odd golden eyes of the redhead looking down at him. It was hard to say that look resembled a boy or anything human at all. It was more like an animal. Something dangerous that needed to be locked away in a cage.

Aside from the stare, Karma was deadly still, it was strange to look into eyes that were no doubt plotting with intent to kill, causing the usually composed man to breathe quite heavily without even knowing it.

This was different from the angry teenager outbursts he'd witnessed before.

"Karma," Nagisa had said his name several times now, but this was the first time it had been heard by her father. Maybe it was the shock of the sudden sound, or perhaps his ageing heart was responsible for him not realising his ears had been ringing catastrophically until they were finally cleared by his daughter's voice.

"Karma come on. It's better just to leave him, hurting him won't do us any good."

Then the boy smiled, "Don't worry Nagisa, I wouldn't do that to you."

He was finally free of the menacing gaze.

"Lets pack your things."

"We can leave them." She suggested, shrugging like she bore no connection to all the money he had spent on her.

"Are you sure? We might not be able to get it back later."

She nodded. "I'll go pack a bag for the night. That should be enough."

The teens left his side without even so much as another glance in his direction. Humiliation wasn't the right word. Though, wrath was definitely one that was increasing in him.

There were only so many scenarios where punching a minor would be acceptable for a man of his status, this unfortunately wasn't one of them.

He grit his teeth an hour after they had left, still sitting in the same seat, still making the same still expression as his eyes stared ahead calculatingly. His thumb had popped into his mouth to ease the small tear bleeding onto his palm.

At this point he wanted to do more than punch that red haired kid, he wanted him locked up or dead, either way was acceptable so long as he was away from his child.

"Hello," His voice feigned more distress than intended, but that didn't hurt his case at all, in fact, judging my the concern on the operator's voice as she asked if she could help him, this would prove to be a very useful act indeed. "Yes, I'm calling to report a possible kidnapping."

"Karma... I'm gonna have to go to my mother's eventually."

"That's only if I let her get you~" he smirked. She smiled back.

"So you're going to adopt me?"

"Exactly, you'll be my new little pet."

"Not your daughter?"

"Nope. I think a puppy or a kitten would suit you better."

They were walking in the dark, they had been for a few hours but Nagisa insisted on Karma getting the fresh air instead of a bus or taxi in hopes of his anger fading a bit. Just in case his parents weren't as welcoming as Karma. If that were to become the case (which she had a feeling was more likely than anything else) at least her boyfriend would remain level headed and not do anything irrational. The last thing they needed was another temper tantrum from him.

"What are you thinking about this time?"

She hadn't realised he had stopped until he lifted up her blue hair and put little-to-no distance between their eyes.

"Ah- I'm wondering whether or not your parents will let us sleep in the same room?"

She lied quickly, looking less obvious since she was honestly curious about the matter. "They'll let us sleep in the same bed if we pretend your a boy."

"A boy? How would I pull that off?"

"The last time they saw you they thought you were a boy." He shrugged, "Besides, we're not going home tonight."

The girl paled and nearly tripped over on the concrete as dread crept up on her, "Then where are we going?"

"Wherever the night takes us~"

Experience had taught her to take that as an ominous sign.

"You mean we're going to be out in the cold all night?" She rubbed her shoulders despite wearing a large fur-lined black jacket just to tease him.

"Ah, why don't we we catch a late movie?"

"In there?" They had come across a surprisingly busy street. The direction in which Karma looked down was dark and the entrance to the theatre was packed with as many people as there would be in the morning. Though at this time they were mainly over 16's at least.

He noticed Nagisa's incredulous stare on his face and smiled, "I get it. You're still angry - you're looking for a fight."

"Yep." he nodded deviously. She sighed, knowing that it was hopeless trying to persuade him otherwise.

"Fine, just promise not to fight until after the movie." She blushed a little, poking out her tongue "That way we might make him chase us."

Nagisa and Karma were both breathing heavily, their chests together as they stood embraced in each others arms. The second they had evaded their unfortunate target of mischief, they had sprinted back to their meeting place and jumped into each others arms laughing.

It had taken a while, but the tension in Karma's eyes had finally faded from a hawk's gold back to their usual honey brown.

The blunette was starting to see what people meant when they had said Karma was a bad influence on her, but there was no point fretting over it.

Now she was just tired, they both were and Nagisa was conflicted with the urgency of wanting a soft warm bed to slip into and the impending concern at being turned away by her boyfriend's parents.

In her thoughts, her eyes had averted to the side as they spoke, not looking ahead when his house came into view. She could only be shocked when Karma cursed loudly and spun her suddenly, backing up into the shadows.

"What's-" One look at the police car parked ready for arrest in his driveway said it all.

"What have they found out now.." He muttered, still analysing the scene with narrowed eyes.

"F-Found out? That's not reassuring - could your parents be in trouble?"

"Unlikely." He clicked his tongue, "They haven't called so they can't have asked them to go and find me...That means the police are here for me again. Shit! What have I done recently to get into this...?"

"You don't think that man told on us do you?"

Karma was still, looking down at his girlfriend in consideration. "He's the one that asked for a fight, so no."

"But, we threw popcorn at him and insulted his date."

"Either way, we should get out of here before they see us."

"T-Then where are we supposed to go? What can we do all night, watch more movies?"

"Haven't you ever spent a whole night out before?"

Nagisa bit her lip, paling at his intent, curious, amused and slightly belittling stare.

"Maybe I should just go home to dad after all..."

"No, Na-"

In their situation, seeing Karma freeze up and tense suddenly frightened her, she backed away ready to disappear, fearing the worst. But in the end, it was only the vibration of his phone ringing that had caused his reaction.

He pulled the item from his pocket scowling. "Gakushuu. What the hell does he want at this time?"

Despite this, the redhead didn't answer his phone, however, the second it ended, it started up again, causing him to groan.

"I think you should just answer it."

"Are you with Nagisa?" The boy's familiar voice demanded, a hint of urgency and fear eliciting some of Karma's attention. The girl beside him cringed so hard Karma would have been alarmed if the sight hadn't been swallowed by the darkness.

"Aren't you a bit eager... no Hello, no how are yo-"

"You have her don't you ass-hole?!"

"What are you so upset about, she is my girlfriend." His patience was being tested at seeing his lack of ability in getting his friend to play.

"So you admit it! Y-You fucking scum! You never learn not to treat her like an object, how could you-"

"Gakushuu you're not making any sense."

"Nagisa! Are you alright?" His tone of voice changed instantly. It was like he had forgotten what he had been vehemently accusing just a few seconds ago.

"O-Of course I am." She was taken aback in confusion.

"But you..." he had leaned too far from his mobile, clearly nervous to the point that he wasn't thinking straight "...the police said to my father..."

At the word police, Karma's fingers had dug into the corners of his phone, causing grey smears to appear on his screen where he had applied too much pressure. Nagisa didn't have to look up to know that his teeth were grit and his eyes showed fury. Could Gakushuu have been the one who called the police?

"Gakushu," he fumed,"explain everything."

The purple eyes boy on the phone knew that tone as well as Nagisa did, becoming surprisingly obedient when he sighed.

"My mum and Dad will be gone for at least another hour, come by mine but don't be seen."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"If we're lucky we can stay at his for the night. Gakushuu has a massive house, he's harboured me in there for about a week without his parents even finding me before when we were younger."

He had meant to say when they were friends, but that would defeat the purpose of him trying to comfort his shaking girlfriend in the first place.

If only he knew that she had been there before. She hadn't seen much of it, but after her experience, she hadn't been planning to return to explore the rest in any future.

When they slipped into the property through a back door to their huge garden, Nagisa's hands reach out and clung to her boyfriend's sleeve. If he noticed her discomfort, he didn't show it.

This upgraded to her locking hands with him completely when the son of the owner of the property appeared out in front of them from apparently no where, his eyes wide at the sight of seeing Nagisa and ticking with excitement. She averted his gaze but didn't feel him look away, he didn't even speak, only stared at her up and down and made her want to vanish.

"Gakushuu." She greeted herself, after too much of a mind-forged awkward silence for her to handle, keeping her voice even despite looking so obviously distressed.

His garden had circular lights in the floor along the path that lit up as they walked by. The darkness had been her cover before, and know she felt exposed without it.

"Both your parents are out?" Karma asked, looking around them cautiously as they stepped into the patio.

For the first time since that evening, Gakushuu looked away, but it barely lasted a second. To think that she used to find his admiration somewhat cute and flattering...

"I have to tell you- Nagisa would you like a drink or anything."

A mug of anything hot would be treasured right now, but she politely declined. The fact that he hadn't offered Karma only implied he didn't really want to make anything anyway.

"Come, we should go up to my room so when parents do come home they don't see you guys."

Karma nodded in uncharacteristically patient agreement. Nagisa subconsciously clenched his hand, wishing it would be socially acceptable to hide behind him and shut her eyes like a scared child. Her stomach was coiling in a way that could only be compared to sitting next to him in class the day after it happened. Her nerves had risen and fallen from stopping her from breathing to her just being extra wary, but now in his home, this progress in strength had been shattered, reducing her back to her initial fear with every stop further into the property.

She wished she wouldn't be like this. Karma was with her this time. It was different.

Gakushuu's room was very simple, yet compared to both her and her father's bedroom, it was massive. There would have been more than enough placed to hide had he not had everything so packed away and neatly stored in place.

The boy sat down on his desk chair while his red haired friend leaned against the wall, his girlfriend sticking very close to him.

"F-First of all - I promise I'll tell you everything I know, just answer me this one question." Nagisa and Karma both had a sixth sense telling them this wasn't going to be good.

"You two are together willingly right now, Karma hasn't forced you out of your home with him, has he?"

"Of course not!" She gasped, her confusion growing.

"Oh phew," His shoulders seemed to sink down like a deflated air balloon. Only now did the blunette notice he was wearing innocent grey pyjamas with red buttons and furry slipper on his feet. It was the first time she had seen him so relaxed and at home.

"The police came to our door at like eleven asking if we knew where you were, I was sleeping actually but my dad woke me up and let them question me," He frowned.

"What did you tell them?"

"I said if you weren't at home you could be anywhere. They were gonna make me call you but Dad took them out saying he would help them look. He really saved me both of us actually and he doesn't even like you - if you picked up we would both be in for some real shit."

They nodded in agreement.

"Did they say why they were looking? I don't see why they can't just wait until morning to get me."

At this point, Gakushuu formed a face that looked as though he had been hit by a brick,"Apparently Nagisa's dad said you threatened him and took - no kidnapped Nagsia after breaking into his house and acting 'violently and antisocially'. But even for you I had a feeling this wasn't true."

He looked at the ground and seemed to have something hidden in his gaze, "What the hell did you do to make her dad so mad?" he muttered.

"Barely anything. Not worth all of this anyway." Nagisa answered,"He's exaggerating to get you into trouble, that's just like him."

"Maybe you should just go to the police now and tell them the truth, if they see you calm and unhurt he might drop the charges and forget about it?"

"No." Nagisa and Karma both said that in sync, yet they held different reasons behind their words.

"After all he's done he doesn't deserve you going back to him like that. He can't get away with saying those despicable things to you without facing the consequences." Gakushuu's eyes hardened as well.

"Besides, he has no evidence on us whatsoever. It will die down soon enough."

"Actually that's unlikely, the way he phrased it seemed confident of your crime being kidnap, not just two teens running away. The police are already treating you as a threat to the law so things will probably get worse and you'll be made out to be more and more of an offender-"

Realising the lack of compassion in his words, Gakushuu stopped speaking to look at Nagisa concerned with trying to tell whether or not his words had come across as insensitive.

"W-What I'm trying to say is that waiting for it to pass won't do much good."

She caught both boy's looks and swallowed, "I know all of this, don't worry. I'll be going to my mother's soon anyway."

Suddenly, something clicked inside Karma's head. He leaned back, his demeanour suddenly noticeably more relaxed and laughed as he spoke, "You're right Nagisa~ We'll head over to your mother's as soon as we can and convince the police our plan had been simply to move you there sooner the whole time. It will make everything look like a misunderstanding, not to mention your dad will look like a whiny idiot."

Her blue eyes brightened, suddenly feeling a large part of the weight on her be lifted. Before she could relish in this though, Gakushuu interrupted them.

"Wait, you're moving to your mother's house?"

The pair of purple eyes that stared back at her were wide with worry, they would be even more so once he realised how far from home that was.

The girl's head sunk down as she spoke,"Yes. My dad's practically disowned me so I'm moving away to my mothers. I'll have to change school and won't be able to visit other than holidays but I'll otherwise be happier. I haven't seen her in a few years."

It didn't take a genius to know that despite the positivity of her words, when her bubble-blue eyes met his, a part of her still held onto a string of hatred for him, accusing him, blaming him and resenting him.

Karma was oblivious to this, but Gakushuu jerked back, struggling to breathe. Was she implying that her father and her had argued because he knew about what he had done to Nagisa? She... she said she wouldn't tell Karma but never specified about telling anyone else.

They would act like it had never happened.

That was their agreement, right?

Nagisa of all people wouldn't break that... but why else wouldn't her father want her.

"W-When will you be going?"

Her head tilted towards her boyfriend, pretty features peeking up at him for reassurance, "Tomorrow if it goes to plan."

"We could get a late night train?"

"No!" They were both staring at him now, he knew he had messed up, but attempted to cover it by acting like the stress he was in came from the police, "You'll only be increasing the risk of getting caught. Stay here tonight, please, it's the least I can do."

His words had been appealing towards Nagisa, his eyes doing the same, but Karma was the once who answered.

"Sure, that was one version of the plan anyway."

Pleased by these words, he looked away, narrowly missing the clear signs that Nagisa would have answered that question completely differently. By now she just wanted to go home. There at least she could relax and not feel endangered. When it was just her in that house, sure it was quiet and sometimes lonely when compared to the ideal lives of some of her friends, but she had appreciated it nonetheless.

What choice did she have? Gakushuu's home or not, Karma was with her, that should be enough to soothe her. It should be.

"Great," The strawberry blonde exhaled, "You can both stay here for the night."

He stood up, eyes flickering too and away from Nagisa several times, as if questioning in his head whether he should dress something. She tilted her head away sceptically.

When he spoke, he tried to come across as naturally as he could, even going so far as to turn to face the other direction and start walking towards the door. "Nobody goes in the basement. You guys can stay down there."

The blunette couldn't move. Karma took her hand and followed the other male, but for some reason she found herself rooted to bed. Her heart was beating at an average pace, though each pound seemed to sting.

"Nagisa?"

"I-If you're afraid of the basement don't be." Gakushuu was quick to speak, quick to distract the menace from his girlfriend so her obvious fears would be less likely to be acted on. Their secret had to stay a secret. "It's not dark and it has a bed so you won't have to sleep on the floor. If you really don't like it there you can sleep up here, but I can't say both of you up here will work."

Karma glared back at the boy. It was only territorial, but Gakushuu felt the threat of it as though he was deserving of a punishment. He knew he was guilty.

"No thank you. I'll be fine."

They had looked away from her for a second. That second alone had been enough time for her face to slip back to an unreadable lie of tranquillity.

The purple eyes on her wavered. Her blue ones remained sure.

"Okay then. I'll check on you guys when I can, don't come out of there unless I say it's fine and try not to make so much noise."

"Don't worry, we'll be on our best behaviour."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Gakushuu's basement hadn't changed nearly as much as Nagisa would have liked. It was still crowded by a maze of stacked up storage boxes, creating a wall that covered the door so if anyone entered they wouldn't immediately be seen, and would have many, many hiding places. It stretched over the entirety of their house, so for one room it was quite huge.

Nagisa had only ever been on one side of it, but she didn't want to know what was on the other side.

She was lying with Karma on the same bed where she had lay with Gakushuu before. There faces were together, he was all that she could see, smell, hear and feel right now, yet she was pale and still like a corpse in his arms.

"Are you still nervous Nagisa?" His hands closed around her warm cheeks and the back of her soft her. She leaned into him, but her bright blue eyes showed no reaction to his words. Usually she would melt in realisation that she was acting that way, but once more, she remained still, giving him the impression that she was hiding something. He was pained. Why was she still hiding things?

"I shouldn't be but... it's a lot to take in."

Now she was hiding her face from him. Her breathing was soft on his neck, looking like the actions of someone relaxed, trusting and comforting. He knew that was just an escape route.

"You don't want to move to your mothers, do you?"

"I do!" Her whisper seemed to be trying to convince herself,"I love my mother, that's not the problem."

"Then what is?"

No response for a long time. Eventually, she just hugged him closer. In her head, she hoped staying quiet and weak would somehow solve her problems. She let him reach his own conclusions, because she wasn't sure of what to say.

"I want to stay with you too." He kissed the top of her head, pulling the thick duvet further up over her shoulders. "Try and get some sleep."

There was no heating down here. The boxes were coated with dust that slipped into their lungs in tiny fragments. Neither of them wore comfortable clothing, yet neither of them felt comfortable enough to remove more of it than their outdoor jackets.

The truth was, that wasn't the problem.

She knew her boyfriend had done this to comfort her, but the sheets, despite being obviously different to the ones from before as well being obviously cleaned recently, smelt of the washing detergent used by Gakushuu that lingered on some of his clothing.

It reminded her of him. It made her feel dirtier, guiltier, weaker, more worthless, powerless, sinful, wicked, repulsive, uncomfortable, depressed, miserable and anxious.

She clung to Karma like her own teddy bear, blocking the silence with his heartbeat until she finally managed to will her heavy eyelids shut, hoping she didn't carry these negative thoughts with her into dreamland.

The bed she was in became cold and foreign really fast. Half asleep, half awake, her hands reached out desperately to the comfort she had a distant memory of being beside her. Her hands found nothing, her heart throbbing. Something... someone was missing.

But was that so bad? Why was her heart beating so hard? Why did she have the feeling that something awful would happen if this continued? Was she in danger?

Everything was dark behind her eyelids, any violent perturbing monster could be hiding in this and creeping towards her, but she wouldn't know or be able to defend until the last moment, until it was already too late. Until it had gotten her.

"Nagisa~"

Her breath hitched sharply, but that wasn't enough to wake her, only to toss and turn like a maniac. Whatever it was was touching her, it's voice was so close it vibrated against her skin, it violated her. She knew that voice, it was hazy and intoxicated, and it lured her in, calling her name like that after it had hurt her.

Now she remembered.

That was the way her name had been called after something bad had happened... something that had weakened her and changed her... what had it done to her-No! On second thought she didn't want to remember. She just had to get away.

It couldn't happen again... if it did...

"Nagisa~!"

It was louder that time. How could it have possibly gotten closer when it was practically inside of her the first time? She had to get away from it - she had to wake up!

If she didn't, those hands would remain to reach over her and dig into her skin, through and under her clothing while she lay powerless. If it was a dream, she just had to wake up to get away from it. Then again if it was real, what if she couldn't fight it?

Her memories of it were only so bad because she could remember all of it's sickening details so clearly. They always said it had happened so fast, so why had her experience seemed to have dragged on endlessly until she had passed out?

To get further away from it, she would have to get further from consciousness, further into a sleep.

Cold tears slid from her sleeping face down onto the bed where she had passed out on before. She hoped this time, like a dream that vanished in the night, she wouldn't remember it.

"He really said that about her?" Gakushuu grit his teeth, his eyes sinking into the ground as Karma told his friend in detail what had happened.

Little did the red head know, the majority of the boy's frustration originated from guilt.

"He doesn't deserve to be near her."

Their eyes met knowingly.

"I would have done the same for Nagisa." He eventually nodded, eyes still darkened.

It was approaching three in the morning now. After his parent's return and settle, their host had slipped down to talk to his visitors, finding Nagisa's face hidden below a blanket cover and Karma awake restlessly thinking about what to do about his girlfriends situation.

They had slipped onto the other side of the vast basement, not far enough so they wouldn't hear Nagisa if she woke, but just enough so they could talk quietly. Though making his visit, Gakushuu had been hoping the other of the pair would have been the one awake.

There was a large old table covered with boxes they had sat on, with three chairs conveniently spared of boxes so they could sit and talk.

Gakushuu had been hoping to ask Nagisa if she really had told her father, not to mention to arrange some possible way for her not to walk out of his life entirely after she left.

"I need to get some sleep. Unlike you I won't get a lie in until late."

He shook his head insistently,"What time do you want to go, I'll make sure you get out of here safely."

Karma was half trying to nudge him off when he answered,"5:30 the latest, I want to get out of here early, before the police start running around."

"That's not a problem. I'll come and wake you both up."

The redhead nodded, still partially distracted by the growing enigma in his girlfriend's behaviour as of late.

"When we're gone, make sure you don't start getting angry and reckless." His eyes hinted to the unknown, wearing a threat.

"I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about." There was silence, Karma stood to make his way back to his makeshift bed.

"When you-" Gakushuu stopped, his words unable to leave his mouth, breathing in as he re-evaluated,"Look after Nagisa tomorrow."

"You know I will. You don't have to ask."

His purple eyes met the ground conflicted, "Good night." He slipped out of the door, heading back to his room two flights of stairs up.

Karma stared at Nagisa's sleeping face for a while in the dark before going to sleep, he didn't attempt to rejoin their bodies in fear of waking her, but intertwined their fingers and brought her hand to his chest before he could sleep.

Waking up with dry tears in a foreign place was alarming. Waking up with both Gakushuu and Karma present and looking down was even more so.

She was wide awake soon enough, but her eyes felt rough, she knew her body was craving more rest but had to ignore that for now.

Somehow she had ended up moderately washed, dressed and wrapped in her thick jacket with the same lilac scarf Gakushuu had lent her before caringly wrapped over her to keep her warm. He didn't hide the adoration in his eyes as he lead them off.

"Take care Nagisa."

His voice was soft, not nearly as devastated or reckless as she would have imagined. She guessed she just didn't know the boy that well, who knows, he may have secretly been quite fickle. This may have been the first in line of many obsessions for the boy, she could only pity his future victims, hoping that eventually one would return his feelings, not just so they could be happy together, but so this next woman wouldn't suffer as much.

Before she knew it, after being head lead by Karma in the foggy darkness that gradually faded, she was in the train station, then after that she was seated with her back comfortably leaned into the chair on the long distance train. Her boyfriends hand was still in hers.

No police had discovered them, no nasty surprises in price or transport, no sudden wind storms in the winter or distraction to delay them. They were seated successfully on the way to a better life for her, yet she was missing something.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Why was time racing forward so fast? At this rate, their last moments together would be over in seconds.

Then, she may never see him again.

Why was it so painfully easy for her to fall asleep and waste away even more moments when her head pressed against his shoulder and his hands stroked along her arm?

The answer could always be traced back to her own weakness.

"M-mother?"

She wasn't sure what to call her parent after having not seen her in so long.

"Nagisa, is that you?" The voice on the line instantly lit up, it was refreshing and even made the corners of her mouth raise in sync to her heartbeat.

"Your father told me he would allow contact, has he told you you'll be moving back in with me yet? it's kind of early but I'm looking forward to talking to you again." She practically beamed.

"He's told me, but.." She laughed nervously,"I guess I've arrived a bit earlier than I had planned, and I-I've brought a friend with me to visit, I hope that's okay."

"Arrived?" Her voice dropped, "Are you at the door?!"

"No, no," She laughed quietly at the surprise in the woman's voice, her panic distracting the girl from her own stress,"We're on the train but we'll be reaching the train station soon. I didn't get the address off dad actually, would you mind coming to collect us?"

She heard the sound of something dropping, then of footsteps knocking into the ground in a rush "Of course I can for you Nagisa, I'll be there in half an hour."

"I see, he really said that to you" the older woman tried to appear strong, but traces of her pain for her child still appeared on her expression.

"It probably seems bad but I'm used to it by now. It feels good knowing I don't have to return to him any time soon."

Karma eyed the way her smile reached her eyes. Nagisa was honestly happy, her issue had been dealt with and left behind.

He returned his gaze to the small middle-aged woman opposite him. She clearly resembled Nagisa in her facial features, especially the colour of her eyes, but her hair was short and pale blonde. He wondered if in time Nagisa would come to resemble her more.

"He always was like that. It was a shame since he could sometimes show such a caring side." She sighed, "I can empathise with you perfectly."

Nagisa took another sip from the milkshake that had been brought for her, her movements swift, relaxed and natural, her head tilted downwards but her eyes looking up out of the window.

Karma softly smiled.

"You don't regret being with him do you?" He inquired, snapping the woman out of her daze.

"Of course not, then I would have never had Nagisa."

That was one test passed.

"That reminds me, I've been clearing out a spare room in my apartment for you, but it's not entirely done yet..." Her voice droned on in the background, the melody of Nagisa's occasionally chirping in.

The redhead was so caught up in his thoughts, he only seemed to remember where he was after hearing his name.

"Is he always like this?"

"No actually, usually I'm the one who gets carried away. Are you alright Karma?"

"I'm sorry, we're leaving you out of the conversation aren't we? You must be getting booored"

"No, you guys go on ahead and catch up, you haven't been together in years."

The older woman just smiled at him, "Boyfriend huh?" She thought to herself, eyeing him up and down, "I'm not sure I'll let you go on dates with him this young."

"What?!"

"We're not that young." Nagisa tried.

Silence followed, and then the woman fell into the table laughing.

"Relax, I wouldn't force you guys to break up. You came with her all the way here, you must be worth it boy. I just can't help but wonder if things would have gone differently had I been in custody."

"I-I would have never met Karma."

"I guess all things happen for a reason."

She watched as her words took affect, the pair meeting eyes and Nagisa blushing lightly at his blatant care for her. They both smiled, bumping their fists together so their rings collided.

"Aww that is just so cute!" If his eyes weren't deceiving him, the woman had just wiped a small tear from her eye, "I'm glad you were there for Nagisa when I couldn't be."

Her eerily familiar eyes met his, showing the honesty of her trust. Karma smiled back. But within seconds, he had looked away


	13. Chapter 13

**Urghhh, I haven't updated in so long! I'm sowwy - I don't want to discard this story so I'll try and update as frequently as possible until this is finished :P**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Nagisa had fallen asleep later than he had expected, leaving him to crash out on their living room apartment sofa until he woke up at two in the morning.

It was dark; the curtains in the room were a thick rouge velvet, while each room lingered with the nearly overpowering smell of several floral air fresheners. Unlike Nagisa's father's house, the place was quite cluttered, with a lot of furniture and not a lot of space, a lot of random, expensive delights rested on each of these surfaces, including oversized photo frames, faux diamond framed mirrors, stone ornaments and thick hardback books the woman had probably only brought because she thought they were pretty.

As he struggled to make his way through avoiding these, all the while assuring his footsteps weren't too loud against the shaggy mauve carpet, Karma thought to himself it was clear the woman had comforted herself with these material items to deal with her loneliness. This was understandable though, he could only see through nightmares what he would be like if he'd had Nagisa taken away from him.

By now, he was at their door. His hands were around the knob.

To his distaste, the woman's voice could still clearly be heard talking at a low volume to who he assumed would be a man.

"...I don't usually get to spend the day off work, today was good..."

He pulled back, gritting his teeth and yanked his hand away sharply, irritated that despite living alone the woman had hung a chime from the handles, declaring the room to be the 'bedroom'. Did she have frequent visitors or what? The item changed lightly against the door, freezing his heartbeat for a second. After her laugh died down, he realised that the timing had been on his side - she hadn't heard it.

Reluctantly, he leaned down against the lower part of the wall, listening intently until he received a clue that the woman had finished. Though this was several minutes later, and he felt his eyes stinging from tired fatigue.

Hiromi's eyes flickered towards her daughter, sleeping soundly just beside where she was. The final beep of her phone signalled that she was alone, allowing her to sight softly, running her hands over the girl's head.

She had grown up pretty, albeit, still smelling of the same baby shampoo her father had been purchasing for the last fourteen years and still looking every bit as similar to both of her parents.

Nagisa was finally back to her, finally right where she could protect her. She swore to do things right this time, to make sure her child didn't grow up without a mother like she had done.

Her eyes had crinkled as she smiled, for maybe the first time since she had last seen her, seven years ago. Almost as if she sensed this, the girl stirred and leaned into the touch, her lips curved dreamily a little. Hiromi turned away before she could wake her, falling into sleep easily, without listening to music, without slipping herself a pill or even reciting her yoga mantra.

Karma knocked lightly on the door experimentally. There was no reply. He knocked again, this time a nuance louder. Still no reply.

So he opened the door and peered inside. There were only sleeping figures to to be seen.

He stepped into the room.

Instantly, he noticed that the rug in the bedroom was white. That may prove to be a problem. The silk bed sheets also, were white. That was even more of a problem.

As a matter of fact, every thing in the room was either white or a very pale colour with the exception of the large black swirls on the wallpaper, reminding him of a room for insanity. This made the biggest mockery of his plan, his fists clenching until his pocket knife flicked back shut to be shoved back into his pocket.

Plan B then...

Gloves. He needed gloves. Aside from the impact on time, this may actually work out even better, since they as well as several pills were discovered easily in the kitchen.

Migrane pills, sleeping pills, an impressive assortment of depression pills that had barely been touched. He took it none of them could fill the void.

Grabbing a creative diversity of health drugs and a glass of water, he headed back to the woman lying soundly in her bed beside his girlfriend.

The worry line on her forehead from earlier was now invisible, she looked almost like she had magically regained the last ten years of her life.

Karma couldn't help but scowl at this, everything in the home he had seen o far told him the woman had suffered. She had tried to move on and tried to be strong, she had given up on Nagisa when she clearly still had the money to afford all of the useless junk surrounding her. But, somehow he couldn't hate her.

She looked like Nagisa. She made Nagisa smile. She had cried at seeing them together, she had welcomed a stranger into her house just because her own daughter had deemed him a good person.

He wasn't a good person, like many had called him before, he was a low, despicable scumbag. The rubber gloves he wore nearly snapped when he dug his nails into his palms. Hiromi... didn't need to die.

A pair of golden eyes flickered towards his girlfriend. She was facing away and her hair was a mess, he leaned over the bed, gently pulling her hand so she wasn't gripping her cushion as roughly, laying it down comfortably beside her as she nearly silently breathed.

"G-Gakushuu..no.."

Oh? With her hair brushed out of her face, he could read her distress easily. This was interesting.

The blunette reacted yet again in response to his second touch.

"You shouldn't!" She declared, rolling over slightly."But...but if feels...good." Her voice faded off into a whisper, her expression became more relaxed, her breathing evened out.

Yet rage swelled inside her lover so badly his eyes became too foggy to see any of this.

"Tch." He clicked his teeth violently and stalked to the other side of the bed. It wasn't over yet. Nagisa couldn't have her happy ending just yet. There was still something he didn't know, and still someone unpunished.

Unfortunately, to continue with his plans, that just meant the mother had to go.

"I'm sorry Nagisa, I really am." He drawled, his voice too soothing to wake up either of them. It was frightening how drastically this contradicted what he was truly feeling right as he took a fist full of pills, so many the woman wouldn't just throw up in her own throat and choke to death, but to kill her several times over before she could even realise what was wrong.

"Say ah~"

Tracing his fingers over her lips, he pulled them apart, his touches still ghost like while she breathed, dropping each pill carefully in one by one, before filling her mouth with water.

His fingers pinched her lips and her nostrils shut tightly, not pulling apart until he heard the heavy sound of swallowing.

He expected some kind of drop, some kind of instant grief to wash over him, but no, he felt nothing.

He left the container of sleeping pills beside her but dropped a few other pills in their to make it look like an accident, taking her by the wrist and rubbing her fingerprints onto the glass he had used.

He turned to leave, but before he did, he returned to his girlfriend's side. His expression collapsed into agony, him biting his lip and clenching his eyes shut, "I know you'll be devastated by morning," he paused to look at her, as if he really expected a reaction. "But one day you'll understand that this was necessary."

"..."

"I need to be the only one. That way you can trust me, you can smile at me, and live with me, and tell me everything. I did this for us." The boy pleaded.

".."

"If there was another way, I would have taken it. She was depressed Nagisa," his voice rose as if she was actually opposing him,"she'll be happier."

"..."

"We'll be happier," He soothed, tracing his fingers over her again,"I promise you."

He kissed her forehead before he closed the door behind him. His gloves had been flushed down the bathroom toilet, the evidence disappearing in a whirl of water before he turned back and slipped under the covers of the maroon faux fur blanket on the sofa. When sleep washed over him, it didn't seem to want to let him go.

Nagisa awoke to her phone ringing. It was surprisingly late for her, nearly eleven in fact, but despite the yellow brightened room, her mother was also sleeping. But when she found her dad's name written on her caller ID it made her frown, first thing in the morning she didn't want this, however, glancing back towards her parent's happily sleeping form, she decided it wouldn't be able to drag her down any more.

"Good morning Dad."

Thing had gone according to plan, yesterday, they'd had her mother call him and talk to the police to say that they'd been with her the whole time, and just like that his whole charade ended, making them untouchable by him.

Yet when her name was spoken in response, a feeling of uncanny dread still managed to sink into her.

"Nagisa," That wasn't her fathers voice.

"Who is this?"

"It's Mr Saito, from next door dear." His voice was the kind of soft you had with an ignorant child who didn't know a thing.

"Why are you calling me on my father's phone?" She inquired, sceptical as well as nervous.

"They thought it would be better for someone who knew you to tell you," This couldn't be good. Her heart seemed to know it even if her head didn't.

He kept the same tone of voice with the same sympathetic sweetness as he spoke,"Your father's passed away dear. Contrary to what you might think, he really did love you, enough to take away his own life, and in fact burn down the whole house after you had left. I'm sorry."

His words slurred in her ear. Her phone slipped from her grasp and fell down the long distance from the staged queen sized bed of her mothers until it clattered to the floor.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

 _"Two parents killed on the same night despite being in completely different locations, both in freak accidents considered suspicious to the media but deemed not murder by the police due only to a jarring lack of evidence..."_

 _"Their only connection is their missing daughter."_

 _"Are you saying Nagisa Shiota flipped a switch and killed them?"_

 _"How could she be in two places at once? Unless she drove him to suicide through a phone call, or perhaps blackmailed him into it by harming the mother... she was last seen with the mother in a cafe."_

 _"It's obviously the boyfriend. Karma Akabane, spotted with the girl and mother before their death and disappearance, criminal record of increasingly violent crimes, not to mention the accusation from the father not long ago."_

 _"He either brainwashed the girl into doing it or kidnapped her and did it himself?"_

 _"Worst case scenario, we find a third body."_

 _"We have to find that girl. We have to find her alive and we have to do it quickly."_

 _"Then, to find the girl, we just have to find Akabane and once we do we get the evidence for a conviction."_

* * *

When Nagisa woke up, her body was as heavy as her senses were hazy. She'd woken up in a foreign environment, but despite this, the mattress below her pulled her right in, the puffy cushions at her head smelt of soap and the duvet that covered her was tucked in so neatly, no sense of urgency or alarm reached her.

For the moment, Nagisa was reacquainted with the pleasant mind of a child who hadn't yet learned how to think.

Climbing out of the bed, she stretched up on her tip toes, the pink pyjamas that weren't quite her size reaching up above her belly button as her arms pointed out above her.

Her hair needed brushing, but whilst running her fingers through it, she discovered a comb already laid out for her on the desk besides a well appreciated glass of water and a fruity scented face cleansing spray that made her nose tickling as she held down the release.

It was refreshing, but she really craved a bath.

Settling back down on the bed, she glanced around her with her head tilted. The carpet seemed to swallow her toes like sand, but for some reason, whenever she tried to look down to confirm the colours and textures, the only thing she saw were dark pangs of inky blue grey splotched blinding her vision.

Choosing to look up instead revealed a poor perfunctory imitation of the sun that gushed out white light that was even more painful to look at. She groaned and covered her eyes instantly, standing up and walking further and further into slow realisation of her situation.

The ceiling wasn't too high and the walls weren't too wide, a claustrophopic grey brick pattern on each side that surrounded the bed leaving just enough walking space for three stretched steps on each side.

Other than that, there was nothing in the room. Nothing but two doors, one an even deeper grey than the blend of the walls and the other a freshly painted white with a little pink pattern unscripted on the top.

One was evidently more inviting than the other.

Besides, it had been left open just enough for her prying eyes to admire turquoise tiles and a polished white floor she imagined glowed with sparkles as if she were in a giant dollhouse that had consumed her. Stepping in, the first thing revealed was the corner of a porcelain white bathtub and opposite it in the corner, another cabinet like the one back in the bedroom which, thinking back she perhaps should have searched for some food, some weapons or maybe a tiny clue as to where ever in the world she was.

Her hand had just curved around the body of the white door when warm skin suddenly grasped her. As the door creaked open, the polished shoes of a boy appeared. Her eyes took their time calmly glancing up from the black shoes below his dark smart pants to the dark purple open shirt he wore over a plain white top.

Finally reaching the face, her body jerked back. He has strawberry blonde brushed hair that should have been soothing to see, a sweet sort of smile that was unaware of its own existence and lilac eyes that seemed flatteringly thrilled to see her. And yet, all she felt was anxiety.

He was standing close, her name coming from his lips in an unexpected half gasp full off delight. All she could comprehend as she retracted her hand from under his grip, was a strong sense distaste and contempt in her gut as she looked at him.

 _"..kidnapper..?"_

His eyes went wide, leaning forwards (too far into her personal space) on the door as he spoke frantically, "No! _I_ didn't kidnap you, I'm the person who owns this place... well legally not until I'm eighteen, which is for a few more years, but I'm the one who brought this nice bed and rug and bath for you."

He grinned, resembling a sort of sly but young animal you would find on the floor of a forest crawling around, surviving on cunning schemes and hidden claws. She stepped back, uncertain of how to express her imminent distrust.

"Uh huh..."

"Are you feeling alright?" He frowned.

"Oh! That's right, I need a bath." _I need to get further away from you._

"Hey wai-"

Before he could stop her, Nagisa poked her toes into the bath one foot at a time and sat down on the dry, hard floor with her arms around her knees comfortably, looking up at him every few seconds uneasily.

"Ah..." The boy glanced backwards at the door almost irritably, turning back to her with an unrediable expression. "Aren't you gonna take your clothes off?"

"Oh- that's right baths don't clean clothes." She thought aloud.

He half expected her to exted her arms and ask him to do it. Instead, she looked down and pulled the thin strap of the top over her shoulders, struggling with the other and then not quite sure of what to do next.

Gakushuu hastily walked over to the tap to turn on the water, testing it with his thumb until he found a suitable temperature, desperately trying to distract himself from her whilst keeping a straight face and calm heart beat.

It was just his luck that when he walked over to the door to escape, Nagisa gasped loudly at the first touches of rising water seeping through her pyjama bottoms. He turned on instinct, discovering an innocent but concerned pair of stunning sky blue eyes looking up at him with her top hanging off of her neck, still half dressed with her short hair tickling her shoulders and two pale lumps of flesh just about visible as she gazed at him with a painfully appealing pout asking him for help.

"Oh god..."

The door behind him clicked in roughly.

"What the hell are you doing? Can't I leave you with her for ten minutes without coming back to some sort of perverted scene?"

Gakushuu flushed hot red at the not too distant memory of Karma walking in from the bathroom to see him a little too beguiled with tucking the sleeping girl into her blanket.

"Karma!" Nagisa chirped, recognising the redhead instantly. She poked her toes out towards him, letting clear water drip down her ankle onto the floor by the bath.

"I-It's not what it looks like I swear. You're the one with your mind in the gutter." Gakushuu hissed lowly.

Karma smirked, eyes dead ahead and stupefied, making the other male wonder if he was being ignored.

"I wanted to have a bath, but I got stuck" Nagisa added nonchalantly to help his case.

"Oh yeah, and whatever the hell you gave her to keep her asleep as you brought her here, it really doped her up."

"Take this."

A pair of shopping bags was thrust into his arms without being even looked at. He watched aghast as Karma waltzed in as if it were his birth right and kicked the door gently so it revealed only the very edge of the room.

He heard splashing and a condescending roleplay of Karma as a doting manservant followed by hearty little giggles from Nagisa.

"Y-You're not so low as to take advantage of a medicated woman are you!"

Suddenly the door opened, Karma looked at him with his mouth in a bored straight line but his hazel eyes golden with fascination.

"Of course not. Get your mind out of the gutter _Asano."_

Nagisa's damp pink pyjamas he had just brought that day were thrust into his hand before the door slammed shut in his face.

* * *

Even if Gakushuu hadn't been the one to bath her or even see what had happened behind that closed door, he felt a small sense of victory in seeing Nagisa walk out wearing the clothes he had brought and smelling of the soaps brought by _his_ parents money that decorated _his_ house.

Karma seemed to detect this in him, as he eyed him in a puzzled sort of skepticism.

"Is she still doped?"

"I can hear you, you know." Gakushuu felt his stomach drop with guilt, quickly adding.

"I-It's good to have you back Nagisa."

Karma burst out laughing, hooking his arm around Nagisa and pulling her to be sitting on the bed next to him with an "Uff!"

"Don't cry Asano, she's still not quite sober I'd say..."

Gakushuu eyed her. She looked fine to him. But now that he was looking closely, it was strange that she had no problem with Karma being all over her and no shame whatsoever. She hadn't even begun questioning her whereabouts.

He glared at the redhead, knowing that if he wasn't here, Nagisa would be vulnerable to all kinds of danger.

"Can I open the window?"

When she crawled out from him and went to pull back the blinds, she remained despondent in front of the bricked up glass for several moments registering the lack of a background before settling down.

"Seriously, did you kidnap me?"

Gakushuu jerked back, "Me?" He appreciated her blue eyes gently gazing on him any time, but not when it looked so untrustworthy and darkened.

He scoffed, sinking down with his elbow on his knee. "Why do you always assume it's me? Karma's the one who drugged you."

"But... Karma's my boyfriend. Why did you drug me?"

"Yeah, why did you drug her Karma?"

Nagisa rubbed her soft blow dried her as she looked at the red head frowning. "To protect you from bad guys."

"Oh." She seemed confused, but then smiled and laughed it off. "That's okay I guess. But why is _he_ here?"

Karma was grinning like a cheshire cat, "I don't know Gakushuu, why are you here?"

"It's not like this is my property or anything." He rolled his purple eyes sarcastically. "Besides, if anyone's a bad guy it's this bastard. I'm just here to make sure you don't get hurt Nagisa." His voice softened.

"That's funny Gakushuu, you've hurt me much more than Karma has." The sadness in her voice was a bullet. Even in this state of her, his sin had penetrated her so heard her resentment had lingered.

Gakushuu was expecting the kind of mocking laugh her boyfriend used to give when he and Nagisa would speak, instead what he got was Karma sitting up a little straighter and narrowing his venomous eyes _. "What did he do to you when I was gone?"_

If it weren't for the traces of amused curiosity, he may have become afraid. Gakushuu glanced at Nagisa, sweating and knowing she was in no mindset to hold back on the truth or consider the repercussions of her words. He swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like he was way to close to Karma, and the spoken red head was way too close to a nonexistent item in the empty room that could be used against him as a murder weapon.

 _He had killed a man by lighting a match and spilling some petrol thanks to Karma_. The last thing he wanted to do was get on the bad side of someone so cunning. It would be easy for him to frame him for all his crimes and disappear with Nagisa at this point.

All it would take was another of those awful pills and she would follow him off none the wise to his evils. It was his job to make sure that never happened.

"I don't remember actually, I just know that you did _something_."

The blonde stopped stressing just a bit, slowly unclenching the tight grip his pale hands had on the lighter still in his pocket. He was just about ready to light the flammable carpet the fuck up, grab Nagisa and run leaving her boyfriend still on the bed behind them had she answered differently.

He breathed out. He was a killer now. These thoughts that would have once made him sick felt close to natural survival.

He glanced at Nagisa thankfully, but she seemed to reject this gratefullness by averting her gaze to elsewhere.

"Ah." Karma breathed, closing his eyes. "But you seem to remember with how much your sweating Gakushuu. Want to share?"

"No actually. But what I want doesn't matter, either way you're just gonna threaten me aren't you?"

"Oh? So it's something worth threatening you over?"

Cringing at his mistake, he brushed his hair out of his face and looked Karma dead in his eyes, smirking slyly. "No. Honestly, I didn't do anything to Nagisa. She's far too prescious for me to harm her."

"You're no fun at all. Sometimes, if you harm her just right she ends up enjoying it."

The grin he shot seemed to resemble something demonic, predacious fangs practically visible even from this distance.

"Do I?" Nagisa looked away in bewilderement.

"Did you drink your water Nagisa?" Karma asked instead of answering her, successfully distracting her as she pondered cutely in a tiny voice.

"Ah... do you mean the water from the bath or the glass?"

The two boys locked eyes anxiously, looking back at her simultaneously. "Both." "The glass." The answered at the same time, blurring the meanings of their words.

Nagisa looked puzzled, sinking down. "I need to pee so I must have done."

"...You shouldn't drink soap water Nagisa..." Gakushuu trailed off, expression somewhere between concern and confusion.

"Why don't you use the toilet Nagisa, do you think you can manage?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be able to." She laughed as though she were herself again and it were the most normal conversation ever.

"When you come back, you can have some lunch."

"Where did breakfast go?"

"You were sleeping."

"Oh." Her sadness was apparent right up until the bathroom door clicked shut behind her, leaving the two boys alone in each other's bitter company once more. Gakushuu glared, turning up his lip.

"Promise me you won't use that drug on her again."

"Why should I? I don't see what's wrong with it."

"She's humiliating herself. Can you even comprehend how ashamed and embarrassed she could feel when she snaps out of it. It's wrong."

"That's the fun part. You don't like to see her embarrassed?"

Gakushuu blushed, his voice aggressive like the calculating tiger in training he was. "I don't get what she sees in you."

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reviews :P :)**_


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"I'm gonna kill him... I'm gonna fucking kill him.."

When Nagisa awoke up in a strange, unfamiliar setting with vague familiarity and memories she couldn't quite place to see Gakushuu Asano standing in front of her foaming at the mouth while pacing angrily back and forth, eyes down and grumbling violently, her instinctual reaction was fear.

It was the kind of fear that kept her quiet as she crawled deeply into the covers of the bed, letting her fear contort her expression, only to be tamed into blankness after thirty seconds of controlled breathing.

She was fully clothed. That was a good sign. But at the same time, her skin felt soft and moist like she had just bathed. That wasn't so much of a good sign. In fact, she didn't even recognise the clothes on her. Her confidence wavered, and then snapped frangibly into tiny pieces that stung her skin sharply, making her want to sob.

Where the hell was she and why couldn't she remember a thing? Why was she here? Why the hell was she alone with him again of all people?

Everything was so foreign and so out of her control. She barely had the confidence to speak. She felt like she was a child again who was too afraid to speak out about her parents divorce and being forced to abide by the rules of her father's overbearing personality.

"Nagisa?" He must have seen her scrambling, because suddenly his attention was on her, like a laser, it penetrated her cover, turning thick fabric into a flimsy excuse of a shelter. In her darkness of a cover, she heard his footsteps going to stand beside her closely. Very closely.

"Are you awake?" His voice softened. It only enforced her feeling of weakness and helplessness. How could he sound so despicably caring and gentle whilst doing the most evil things? It took her back to _that_ time.

She was afraid he would try and get into the bed.

"W-where are we?" The blunette snapped, throwing the covers off of her to see the rest of the room. It was depressingly empty. He was stood right beside her as invasively as she had imagined. His back was straight as usual, his hair combed, his shirt ironed and his perfect prince smile as deceptively charming as it always had been.

Rolling onto the other end of the bed, she sat up, glancing at the pair of adjacent doors in the corner, planning her potential escape route.

She glanced back at him to see him still smiling at her. Her gaze wavered. She realised her snapping voice hadn't been nearly as threatening as she had thought. Now that she opened her mouth to speak, her voice was tiny and frail, powerless and sore. She held her throat, her eyes downcast at the now messy bed.

"So the drugs finally wore off huh."

"Drugs?!" She croaked, her eyes glossing over in terror.

"Ah... Karma gave you something to ease you in so you wouldn't be so afraid when you woke up here. Don't you remember anything."

Sowly, Nagisa shook her pretty little bed head. Karma's name had comforted her. She opened her mouth to speak, only to take a defensive reflexive stance as her peripheral vision noticed Gakushuu's hand approaching.

If she were a cat, she would have hissed.

She eyed the glass water he held in distaste. "It's just water. I don't have a need to drug you."

He defended, as though he had the most innocent conscious ever. As though he had never wronged her. Never thought about ways to manipulate her.

Her gaze conveyed this thoughts in their silence.

"It's here if you want it." He sighed, dropping it so she had no choice but to catch it. Even still, some of it spilt on her thighs. Nagisa gasped at the cold, rubbing her clothes anxiously.

"Why is your first instinct always against me? You should be looking at Karma with those eyes. He's the one he brought you here."

His voice was a mumble, low and far too feral to be directed at her. But she heard it anyway, sipping experimentally only to discover her need for water was compelling enough for her to knock back the whole thing.

"Once you betray my trust once, it's gone forever. Especially with what you did."

He glanced back at her. She had placed the glass on the bed side table, her fists digging into the matress in the position of an animal about to pounce.

"Ahh, you mean the one thing your know it all boyfriend isn't aware of."

She flinched at his words, "Where's Karma?"

"If only he knew you cheated on him in such a way, begging the way you did. Looking up at me the way you did, heh, you were so scared."

Once again, his words hadn't been directed at her. He only ever spoke to her caringly. Unfortunately for him, his words reached her ears regardless and her breathing became heavier. Every word spoken from his mouth made her mind ring with unwanted recollections and her heart uncertainly struggling to react to each situation envisioned in her mind.

She ended up feeling as if her heart were in his hands and being clenched, exposed and nakedly vulnerable under his gaze, just like she had been that night...

The walls were smaller suddenly - a reminde that it was only them. A strangled sob escaped her. She was breathing heavily. Her stance fumbled, she was tiny, breakable, infinitesimal and unimportant.

"That was bad..." She plead, hoping he would shut up.

"No. You loved it."

"W-.." The rest of her questioned failed. Gakushuu turned from where he had been looking downwards dirtily, brushing his hair out of his face to look at her with his warm eyes.

"What's wrong Nagisa? You're safe here."

 _"W-where's K-karma..?"_

The male eyed her empty glass, wondering why she still sounded so weak, why she was so tense and breathing in serrated trembles.

"Your boyfriend went home. He... the bastard just left me here with you. Apparently he has to return every now and again to avoid suspiscion."

"Wha...suspiscion, what did he do?"

Gakushuu blundered. He'd messed up hugely. "Ah, you're gonna have to talk to him about that one."

"W-when will he be back..."

"Not until tomorrow. It's three now. In the afternoon. He just left about twenty minutes ago."

"Call him... No, I'll go and meet him." She made to leave, but was stopped by his gentle hand resting on her knee.

"Nagisa you can't leave this place." She had thought as much. This wasn't the sort of establishement you came to for a holiday residency.

"I-I...I don't want to be here..with you.." It was getting harder to speak, her throat growing a lump that made even breathing hurt.

"Nagisa, calm down, I won't hurt you. I won't even touch you. I promise."

He pulled his hands up and held them up beside his head innocently, she couldn't help but watch them from the corner of her eye, painfully aware of where they might go if she were to let her guard down.

"Just g-go.."

"I can't...I don't want to leave you here the whole night."

" _You won't,_ you mean."

He looked down sadly, "You're right. It's stubborn of me, but I won't leave you."

She didn't respond. Nagisa turned around and slipped off the bed, Gakushuu instantly fixing the mess of sheets into a neater order whilst keeping concerned eye contact with her.

"C-can I have my phone?"

"There are no phones here in case they're traced. Even mine's back home." He jerked his head in a direction that made Nagisa stare hard that way as if she could see through the wall and plan her way back to familiar territory. She looked taken aback. In her mind, she was wondering how badly they had messed up this time if it meant people who could trace phones were looking for them.

He sighed, unable to read her, settling on the end of the bed.

"You must be hungry. All you had earlier was an apple."

She eyed him in beffuddlement. He lost himself in such an intoxicating blue.

"Oh, that's right." He laughed, "You forgot. Maybe it's a good thing you did."

Nagisa drew back, "D-Did y-you r-ra-"

The teen couldn't even finish her sentence.

"No! Of course not Nagisa, Karma was here too. You woke up and were acting like a kid. Karma gave you a bath and then when you came out we were talking about," He breathed in a sigh of preperation, "About how you can't leave here for now, how the world thinks you're missing and how Karma plans on taking you out of the city to somewhere you can't be found. You accepted it for some reason, I think this whole thing is insane but-"

"If Karma planned this he must have thought it through."

Gakushuu had strained to her the gentle whisper, but then cringed at her words. She noticed this and averted her eyes, stepping backwards.

He clicked his tongue. "So when he kidnaps you it's fine but when I do it I'm awful.."

Nagisa didn't respond. She had a lot to say but not a lot of courage to say it. Besides, he was speaking to himself again.

"I wonder how many times he's raped you and gotten away with it-"

"Shut up!" Nagisa suddenly screamed her back hitting the wall and making her jump. Gakushuu paled, she was very jumpy, her shoulders were tense and her eyebrows furrowed, her hands trembling around the pillow she had brought with her for cover.

"Nagisa, take a deep breath will you. Close your eyes, I'm staying right over here."

She nodded profusely, too nervous and vulnerable to do anything other than obey. "I'm gonna make you some food."

"N-No! Stay there."

He stopped, her eyes had opened and were looking at him like he was a life line made of ropes that had burnt her hands in gym class.

"I won't move. There's food right beside you in the bed side table." He spoke softly, watching as she crouched down and clicked the door open, pulling out a packed sandwich.

"You must be starving." He whispered softly, enamoured by her graceful beauty as she crouched down and opened the plastic, nibbling so slowly with her head down quietly.

"S-Stop staring."

"You're too beautiful." His reply was instant. She looked up at him and frowned.

"Creepy. I don't appreciate it."

"Cute. I appreciate it a lot."

Nagisa wished she had never spoken up. Her voice was just lulling to him as her appearance was. He had even stepped closer and now sat on the edge of the bed.

He was still pretty far though. Besides, she couldn't let him remain standing.

"W-won't you eat?"

"All of that food is for you. There's not much, but it's only a refridgerator box in there anyway."

When Nagisa was finished, she drank from an orange juice carton in one go. She was still hungry, but didn't want to say.

She stood up, not once turning her back to the boy on the other side of the room.

"The white door is to the bathroom, there's a bath, sink and toilet if you need to use it. All the soaps and shampoos you could need are in there, hair ties, sponges, I even brought you a baby blue toothbrush because...I thought it suited you."

Nagisa looked down as though something had just caught her attention.

"Wasn't I just at my mama's..."

Gakushuu felt his heart jump at him. Fear. She was remembering things. He had to distract her. How had Karma done it...?

"Save it for Karma. Are you uncomfortable at all?"

She looked at him dismissively, his words slowly making her consider her state and look down at her unfamiliar outifts. "I..."

"I brought you lots of new clothes." He practically snapped, so quickly he ran out of things to say. "N-Nice clothes, in the bathroom, you can try them on if you want to-"

"N-new clothes... but the old ones are at my d-" Her voice choked, pale fireworks in her ice blue eyes making her stop moving and stare straight ahead.

Gakushuu didn't dare breathe.

"D-dad..." Her breath hitched, her eyes trembling. Murderous guilt consumed him, the memory of agonized screams becoming lifeless, depressing acceptance, the quivering of his hands as he poured the gas into every opened window and onto every flammable item of furniture rushed back into his body, and the slow agony of his blackening soul resembling the thick smoke he'd seen from the walk home reminded him that he had killed the father of the girl he had loved, and now he was facing the consequences of her actions.

"H-He d-died...!" The first tears came ploughing down like heavy rain, her pain torturously easy to be seen in her wide azure eyes that turned pink with fatigue.

Gakushuu ran up to Nagisa and engorged her in his arms before she could protest. He was afraid that she would run, or scream or hit him and put up a fight, but when he felt soft wetness against his chest, he knew she wouldn't do anything other then rest her head on him and cry.

"It's okay," He didn't touch her at all, other than the arms around her shoulders, and she seemed to appreciate this almost as much as he appreciated just being able to hold and comfort her like this.

"Everything is going to be okay, we're here for you now."

Nagisa had no idea how long she was crying for, but her mouth was dry and her eyes had sobbed out so much they were stinging as she blinked and closed her eyes mournfully.

"How did this happen?"

"You'll just have to ask Karma." She hated being treated like a child who couldn't handle the situation.

"T-tell me this, is my father's death to do with the reason I'm being held here?" She snapped. She was sharp, so sharp her words peirced him. Gakushuu finally gave in to his urges, curling his arms around the back of her head, resting above her soft hair as he pulled her in lovingly and dismissively.

"That's not important."

"I'll take that as a yes." Nagisa's hands grabbed ahold of his rest on her and twisted him suddenly until his hands were on her lap. Her blue hues gazed up sternly, but there was a broken weakness behind them that pulled him in sorrowfully.

"So which of you did it?" Her voice whispered: vulnerable, afraid, accusatory.

Gakushuu tried not to reel back, a sharp chill passing through his body and a wave of nausea that made him sick. She caught him by the wrists, he thought she would never let go, and he wouldn't have a problem with it if it didn't mean she could look into his eyes so clearly, because the moment she did, she knew.

Her body stilled, the muscles around his hand loosening and setting him free, only so he could reach out to her shoulders and plead her to take him back into her clutches.

Nagisa's eyes looked distant. "So...it was you..." She tried to step back, tears reappearing in her sore, reddish eye whites. Her horror and repulsion made him fearful and desperate for any sign of love and forgiveness for her. He felt like a book open on his worst page. If forgiveness wasn't possible, the least he could do was turn her hatred elsewhere.

"It's Karma! Don't you see Nagisa, he did this on purpose. You think he cares about you but he left you here with me, so I'd be the one you see when you wake up and I'm the one you assume is the kidnapper, so I'm the one around when you start realising things and suffer all this negativeness around me, as if I'm responsible. If it weren't for me being painted as the bad guy, you would see that he's manipulating you, the bastard! Do you think this is a coincidence, that you would be as happy to see his face if you weren't vulnerable and sick of me. If I was the smarter one, Karma would be here so you would associate him with the sadness, and when I come you'll natural be cheered up. But I won't let him trick us Nagisa, I'm not dumb either!"

"What are you doing?!"

He pulled her up by her shoudlers alone, the grip tight and painful as his palms pushed into her, "You're hurting me! Stop!"

She was thrown down on the the bed. Gakushuu crawled with her. Her mind thought the worst, seeing him in front of her, she arched backwards to get away from him, and fell off the bed, landing hard onto her back on the floor.

Gakushuu laughed at her, "Clumsy. Don't worry, I'll look after you."

Before she could sit up, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back up, this time pinning her down and rubbing their noses together.

She was too shocked to speak, all of her calm from eating gone, all of her trust from crying into his arms broken suddenly. She was barely able to breath as the slightest movements sent her racing heart into sharp pains that made her throat whimper as she inhaled in practically nonexistent bursts.

"Karma said something along the lines of you enjoying a bit of rough treatment earlier today, but I know better. You're a sweet girl Nagisa, you deserve gentle kisses and gentle touches."

His hand sneaked around her thigh.

"Sh sh sh!" He silenced her struggling whispered stutters right against her ear. Her body was still and her cheeks were becoming red, and her body sweating coldly.

"Karma thinks he's so clever leaving me to be the bearer of bad news, but I'll prove him wrong. We can have fun without him, you don't think I'm bad do you Nagisa?"

She was unable to respond, her eyes were wide. She may have cried if it weren't for the fact that he eyes were dry.

"I don't get you...you were so sane just now.."

"Of course you don't think I'm bad, you would have told him by now if you really hated this."

He spoke to himself as though trapped in his own mind. As though her voice was inaudible.

Nagisa's body flinched sharply at the intrusion of skin on skin contact below her hips. Her eyes met his begging, confused, before giving up on empathising with him and turning to aggression.

"I will! I will tell him and he'll kill you!" Her voice was pathetic. It hurt too, but she was screaming uncharacteristically for herself.

"Hmm. Will you now? Even if I do this?"

Gakushuu's other hand which she hadn't been expecting grasped her cheeks rougher than Karma would, despite his pledge to be gentle, her lips were rubbed against by cold, unwelcome yet familiar tasting flesh and his tongue brushing against the inside of her mouth, touching the surface at first, but then diving in deeper when he realised he held her jaw and she couldn't bite. She couldn't scream either. She couldn't cry. She couldn't claw at him through his clothes, or kick him under his weight.

Her hands searched out beside her as he groaned into her mouth and ravished her. It was completely accidental when her fingers found the glass rim of the bottle, and moved without acting.

Glass smashed over Gakushuu's head, raining down over her too in thick shards. Her eyes clenched shut, but the boy above wasn't so lucky, he pulled up and grabbed his head, groaning out like a child who had fallen over in the playground.

Nagisa almost felt bad. Blood was dripping down his hand, forehead, lips and neck as he covered his face, but she knew caring would get her no where. She slid out from under him and grabbed a shard of raw glass.

"Nagisa!" He groaned painfully, falling forwards on the bed as he tried to stop the blood that matted his hair. She cringed at how painful it appeared, but proceeded onward in rushing to the door and yanking on the handle hard.

"It won't open-"

"Then fucking open it before I hurt you even more?"

"Why did you do that?" He whined hurt, only just clearing the blood from his eyes with two fists, feeling woozy. "..why didn't you just ask me to stop?"

Nagisa paled. Her confidence wavered, her grip on her weapon loosening.

Gakushuu took a step towards her.

"S-stay there!"

"Don't you want me to open the door?"

Nagisa glanced over her shoulder at the door nervously, knowing he was trying to play her.

She slid against the wall towards the bathroom door, pressing her back to it with her hands shaking.

"Open it." She breathed.

Gakushuu stumled over, his eyes down cast and more blood dripping down from him onto the new, clean floors he had just had fitted especially for her.

He leaned agaisnt the door, his hands trembling, and then turned towards her.

"Nagisa, I can't open it; I promised Karma to keep you here."

"No! You have to! If you don't I'll-"

"He'll kill me if I release you, so either way the outcome is inevitable."

The girl faltered, her eyes downcast. From the corner of her eyes, there was a rush of motion.

Nagisa screamed, slashing at his arm aimlessly. She felt the cut drag into his skin and tear through the skin, her hands felt so dirty he managed to rip the blade from her hand. There was blood everywhere when she turned around and kicked his chin roughly, until he landed hard n the bathroom floor.

She slammed the door shut, picking up her dropped glass and pointing it at the door.

"G-Gakushuu stay in there! If you come out, screw telling Karma, I'll kill you myself!"

"Nagisa..." He groaned. "I-I think I'm gonna pass out."

She remembered where sympathy had gotten her last time and grit her teeth.

"There's a first aid kit in there isn't there? I'm sure you can help yourself?"

There was no reply. She heard a deep stumbling that may have been him falling to the ground dead. But she wasn't prepared to check. She glanced at the bloody carpets, the glassy bed sheets, feeling all the more trapped and hateful of this place, she sank down and retreated into the furthest corner, closing her eyes and dropping her hands, which she know realised were still trembling.

Gakushu was right. She couldn't trust Karma, yet her fate was in his hands. All she could do was watch and wait until he broke through that door and returned to her.

* * *

Karma never returned as he had promised that night. Nagisa counted the seconds, minutes, hours waiting for him to return home, but he never did. At some point, she started to fumble with the door herself, and growing more panicky after 24 hours without him was on the verge of a nervous breakdown when Gakushuu slipped out of the bathroom without her noticing. All she remembered after that was a single moment of painful fear, before she woke up in her bed comfortably as if nothing had happened.

This time, she was alone. There was food and everything was clean, but the silence slowly dawned on her and suffocated her with the bricked up windows and the lack of sunlight. The dependency on man's creations and two men was making her sick. She ate, but it refused to stay settled in her stomach.

If the world were to end right now outside and be taken over by zombies, she wouldn't know until she had starved to death. That was how trapped she felt. She kept telling herself that it was nothing, that she was over reacting because she was afraid, and that she should be glad Gakushuu wasn't with her. But that didn't change a thing. Her heart was still heavy and her hands still shaky. At this rate, she would start ageing with how anxious she was.

What if Gakushuu left her and didn't come back like Karma did? What if he was punishing her for hurting him? What if he never came back. Picking at her food nervously, Nagisa closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, beginning her mantra of counting again as she sat by the door with a muffin in one hand, and a metal fork in the other digging thin scratching into the bottom of the door like a trapped dog scratching to escape.

* * *

"Hey. What the fuck is your problem?" Gakushuu hissed to Karma the moment he got him alone that day in school. The redhead glanced back as if he had no clue who the teen was, but then taking in the poorly bandaged head that was usually styled so neatly, he chortled loudly and pointed a patronising finger in his face.

"The real question is what the fuck happened to you."

"Shut it." He grabbed his finger and slammed the whole hand down angrily. Purple eyes glanced around both sides cautiously before leaning in, "You thought you would leave Nagisa with me huh? If you don't want her just fucking tell me and I'll be happy to have her. Just don't make me tell her your coming and then refuse to show your face."

Gakushuu made the mistake of pointing to his bandages as Karma's amusement slowly faded.

"Nagisa did that to you?" He seemed shocked, excited even, though his expression was vacantly still. "What did you do to her?"

He spoke like he just knew, causing the other boy to swallow roughly. "I didn't do anything. You're the one who kidnapped her and let her wake up to see my face."

"Ah, so you figured it ou-"

"Of course I would no answer me." He demanded grimly.

"Listen Asano." He seethed, "Last night the cops were waiting for me at my moms place, so I couldn't show up. On top of that, I think I'm being followed."

"You're paranoid."

"Even if I am it's not worth the risk. The fact that I'm talking to you shows a connection and the fact that you're looking like shit implies you've put someone in an uncomfortable threatening situation. Do you know what this means?"

Gakushuu's face screwed up, "They might think I'm the one who kidnapped her."

"Exactly, which means yo and me can't be seen talking to her, or they'll take one look at you and decide that you're the one who needs following, so if they find her, just know that it's cause you're a fucking idiot."

Gakushuu gasped, stepping away and holding his bandages in realisation. He tugged them off, revealing the band-aid over the stitching.

"Like that's any better." Karma rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I don't wanna talk to you at school anyway. Just stop by and talk to her. She already found out about her dad, it won't be long before she finds out about the mother too."

This earned another eye roll as the only way Nagisa would find out was if Gakushuu slipped up, and he had just admitted that twice.

"The last thing I want is them getting their hands on her, so it might be a while before I can come over. They don't have any evidence anyway, for now, we're both upset about her missing and not talking to each other much, got it? And don't you dare bring up Nagisa on public again." He threatened, completely serious about keeping her his precious, private property.

* * *

When the door to the house finally opened, Gakushuu was standing their scowling. Nagisa looked up delighted, melting away his sorrows only to replace them with guilt when he realised he'd have to tell her Karma wasn't coming.

Nagisa's eyes refused to darken however, and she stood up to greet him and delightfully pressed her head against his shoulder.

"I thought you weren't coming back." Her voice was small, her eyes downcast and a little embarrassed. His emotions stirred up inside of him, taking a risk and placing his hand on her head, she leaned into the touch comfortable. He breathed out amazed.

"Nagisa."

She didn't return the look, but she wouldn't let go of his arm either.

"Did you miss me?"

The pretty blunette acted in a way he never thought she would, blushing and nodding her head slightly, following his every movement as he walked over to sit on the end of the bed. His finger brushed her chin gently, eyes absorbing the beauty as though it were a fleeting mirage of an angle he would only see once.

"I'm sorry Nagisa, Karma won't be able to make it."

She was very sad. But spoke up gently and shrugged, "I had a feeling he wasn't anyway."

 _Oh Nagisa._

Everything about her demeanour was so incredibly tempting. He could get away with so much while she was nervous like this, while she thought it would only be them for the rest of their lives. This was perfect, getting to see her every day in his soft cotton clothing and sleeping on his bed sheets. He traced her lips elatedly, reminding himself to thank Karma for this in the future.

"Were you lonely without me?"

"Mhmm." She hugged him tighter. "I...I didn't know what to do."

"It's okay," He tilted up her face to get a look at her, admiring the soft kiss of light on her eyelashes and sleep on her full lips and smooth cheeks. "I'll get you out of here Nagisa, I promise."

He pressed his lips into her forehead, and although her stomach wavered with something akin to nervousness, it was the first non-depressed feeling that actually resembled a human emotion all day, merging into a pleasantry as she leaned into him and closed her eyes. Gakushuu had to whisper at he mesmerizingly soft skin, hair, scent and hug.

 _"And then it will be just you and me, together."_


End file.
